Stunning Diminutive Fossil Amber Ecosystem

It is amazing that 6 grams of amber could contain such a diversity of insect inclusions, but it does. Essentially, it is a mini-ecosystem from an ancient rainforest representing many orders now in suspended animation in their resin tomb.

There are 3 Alates, the elegant and large, winged sexual form of the termite; one has shed its winged ostensibly in preparation to form a new nest. There are also 2 spiders, a stingless bee, 10 various Dipterans (flies and gnats), a wasp, flying ant and a tumbling flower beetle - in all, 17 insects and 2 spiders surely caught in search of their next meal.

It is in amber that once animated insect life is most exquisitely captured, and particularly when the creatures are in diverse association, as exemplified in this specimen from the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Colombia. And, among amber's, those few pieces that contain many species that at once filled their respective environmental niches, and yet together interacted in the general environment are to me the most fascinating. This is such a specimen.

Hand cut and polished into a nearly perfect right circular cylinder, the specimen would also make a dazzling pendant.