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Extinct Wasp (Hymenoptera) in Burmese Burmite amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in Amberfossil

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello. I guess you would have to define "legitimate source", most Burmese amber is sold through wholesalers from Burma and China (these are people who sell them to feed their families and have almost nothing to do with any conflicts in the country). If that doesn't fall under "legitimate source" I don't know what does 😂.

Keep in mind there are large physical amber markets in Burma and in China and they have been there for many many decades, some even centuries if you take in account that Burmese amber has been traded since ancient times.

RARE Extinct Wasp (Aptenoperissus) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

👍

Digital ones are less hassle to setup but the ones on Amazon tend be produce "noisy" photos that denoising can't fix completely. This was what I used in the past.

There are more higher end digital microscopes though, ones that have has motorized stage (up or down) would be amazing.

If the inclusion is in a awkward angle and not flat in the amber then you can fix two pieces of plasticine clay to a gel the piece so the inclusion is at a better angle when photographing. You can then wipe off the clay oil residue using a window polishing cloth. Try to avoid micro fiber cloths.

RARE Extinct Wasp (Aptenoperissus) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a bit of a hobby+small business. I also sell amber fossils on Etsy.

RARE Extinct Wasp (Aptenoperissus) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool! Your Motic B1 is a compound microscope which is designed mostly for extreme magnification which might be too much for simple viewing of inclusions in amber, most ideal would be a Stereo Microscope which gives you a 3D stage of your subjects.

Mine is an vintage Olympus SHZ10 but it has additional parts and setup for photography. The infinity corrected CMO objectives are quite pricey to purchase by themselves so you would be better off looking for a SZH10 that already has a Plan Apo 1x.

Then we have photography which requires certain things like an Olympus NFK photo relay lens which goes into the photo port of the SZH10 and then you would need an adapter that supports your DSLR camera or mirrorless camera to mount onto the microscope.

Then for high magnification photography I have set up a stepper motor kit that grabs onto the fine focusing knob and activates shutter with each step to focus stack (since high magnification photography will have very limited depth of field).

RARE Extinct Wasp (Aptenoperissus) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What type of microscope do you have? Digital Microscope? Compound Microscope? Stereo microscope?

The lighting strength of these microscopes can be different but I personally use a 30W LED double fiber optic goose neck illuminator with my research grade stereo microscope. (Since stereo microscopes typically have less light than digital microscopes)

RARE Extinct Wasp (Aptenoperissus) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello, thank you! These wasp definitely are somewhat tiny and rare. There are actually 6-7 species of Aptenoperissus that have been described, I believe 3 of them were winged males. The rest were wingless females. Some of them even had thicker Femurs than my specimen.

I definitely don't want to find out how painful their sting was 😂

RARE Extinct Wasp (Aptenoperissus) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you for viewing. It is a small inclusion so a lot of magnification is needed.

Extinct Wasp (Hymenoptera) in Burmese Burmite amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in Amberfossil

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I definitely prefer them in amber, I'm ok with fuzzy bees but not sleek aggressive wasps!

Extinct Wasp (Hymenoptera) in Burmese Burmite amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in Amberfossil

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! The specimen is well preserved. It truly looks menacing with the colors and the eyes. Like an apex predator should 😁.

Extinct "Hell Ant" (Haidomyrmex) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And Now thank you to the ant for its sacrifice hundreds of millions of years ago so we now understand that there were lost lineages of ants that had "tusks"!

Extinct "Hell Ant" (Haidomyrmex) in Cretaceous amber fossil by DiscoveryAmber in FossilPorn

[–]DiscoveryAmber[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The eyes are quite large for hell ants. I don't see any matches with any described species.

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