What’s it like to see insects trapped in amber under a microscope?
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For Easter this year, my budding scientist got a student microscope, and we have already looked at plants, insects, and spices from grandma’s kitchen. However, the most interesting part was when we saw tiny flies locked in amber. Although my son felt sorry for the fate of the flies, he was excited to see the details of the preserved insects, up to the tiny antennas and delicate wings.
The amber pieces were really tiny, under a centimeter in length. You can see the included insects with your bare eye, but under the microscope, the finest details of the fly in the top amber piece become visible. Poor thing surely didn’t intend to get preserved for eternity. Even sadder is the fate of the two flies in the bigger amber piece; they were probably having their best time when a drop of resin fell on them and ended their romance. As you can see, we played with the different lighting modes of Lyons Cub’s new microscope. The first image has the light coming both from the top and the bottom, and the second image just from the top.
Here’s a poor little bug with hairy legs that was probably struggling, because there are tiny air bubbles near its legs. By the way, when there’s an air bubble at the anus, I thought at first the insect went to poop during its death, but it’s actually the bacterial gas leaving after the insect’s death.
Here’s a spider in Baltic amber:
And this is a bug (can you see the heart?):
Some beautiful structures — are they plant fragments?? Pollen?
Here are the ends of copulating flies and the head of one of them:
The legs and fangs of a spider:
The eyes of a jumping spider:
And finally, a cute, little centipede:
We are still working on our microscopist’s skills 😉 For example, I have read that submersing your object in sunflower oil (in the absence of the more expensive microscoping oil) will get rid of the unwanted reflections. This source helps a lot getting to know about the technique behind photographing insects in amber: https://enrico-bonino.eu/how-to-photograph-insects-in-amber/
Fossil insect, great plant bug (Hemiptera)
Spider
Jumping Spider
Leaves (?)
Plant residue in amber swirls
Below, you can find the pdf file of Enrico Bonino’s sold-out book
AmberArt
a journey between Science and Beauty (2022)
The position of the object within the amber is very important. I refrain from buying insects too close to the edge of the amber piece, or too cloudy pieces of amber with lots of fractures. The enclosed insect should be relatively near to the surface of the polished amber, and the amber should be as clear as possible to get a good image. Some of our favorite amber sellers are https://www.ambertreasure4u.com/ (in Lithuania), Burmite Miner (in China), and https://www.bernsteindirekt.de/ (in Germany).
We also acquire amber pieces from sellers on eBay and Etsy.
The following insects in amber we received from https://www.ebay.de/str/balticamberstones
They sell Burmese amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar, dated around 99 million years old (earliest part of the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period. Since the first century AD, amber has been commercially exploited and has been scientifically known since the mid-nineteenth century. Burmite (also called Kachin amber) is especially known due its diverse floral and animal inclusions, such as arthropods (including insects and arachnids) and even lizards, birds, snakes, and fragmentary dinosaur parts (!!).
Fossil insect, lacebug (Tingidae) inclusion in natural Burmite / Myanmar amber
Fossil insect (big eye stink bug, Saldidae Hemiptera) inclusion
We love its colorful wings:
Fossil insect, Scale Icerya Purchasi Hemiptera (and a tiny bug right in front of it)
Fossil insect, long Millipede (Myriapoda Diplopoda)
Fossil insect, lacewing (Neuroptera)
Little mite or tick?
And here’s an oddly-shaped plant:
It has an opening at the top like our pitcher plant — maybe it used to catch insects this way, too?
Have you ever seen an insect in amber?
