Fossil insect in amber
Fossil
Also called Amber inclusion and Insect in amber
Take care.
- Sensitive to heat: Keep it away from heat and sudden changes of temperature, including hot lights and ultrasonic cleaners.
About it
Insects, spiders, and plant bits caught in tree resin that hardened to amber. Baltic (Eocene), Dominican (Miocene), and Burmese (Cretaceous) amber are the main sources; copal and plastic fakes are common.
- Type
- Fossil (arthropod)
- Group
- Insect (arthropod)
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2–2.5
- Specific gravity
- 1.05–1.1
- Lustre
- resinous
- Colours
- yellow, honey, orange, red-brown
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- none; conchoidal fracture
- Under UV light
- the amber often glows blue, white, or yellow-green under longwave UV
- Periods
- Cretaceous, Paleogene, Neogene
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.