Description
This is an auction for an exceptionally rare adult winged Male Embioptera or Webspinner in authentic Dominican Amber. ?How rare is this specimen? at this point in time there has only been 1 species of Embioptera described from Baltic amber based on only a one specimen of a single wingless male - very rare indeed. This specimen has been examined by paleoentomologists at the American Mueum of Natural History in New York City. This specimen was collected in late summer in the La Cumbre group of mines north of Santiago. This Webspinner is not complete, as you can tell from the above photographs - the end of one of it's wings was near the edge of the amber and has been prepared away. Although not complete, this specimen is cool and compelling in that both wings are extended with very easy to see wing venation - very rare for webspinners. This is only the second ever Webspinner we have found in Dominican amber, the previous one was wingless.

Webspinners are extremely rare in all ambers, the females are wingless, the winged males are required for family identification. The basal segment of the front tarsus is enlarged and contains silk glands, which they use to spin flat or tunnel like galleries in leaf litter and under stones. They are the only insect living or extinct that posess silk-producing glands in their legs. Some 200 extant species have been described whereas only 1 species has been described from Baltic amber based on a single wingless male.

From the department of Entomology NC State University Johy Meyer - "Only adult males are winged. They apparently disperse from one colony to another before mating, and die soon after mating. Sometimes they are eaten by their mate. Females of different species are so similar in appearance that it is often impossible to tell them apart. Identification keys are based entirely on male characters. Many insects produce silk, but only the Embioptera make it with glands located in the forelegs. Other insects produce silk with their Malpighian tubules or with modified salivary or labial glands. The order Embioptera (webspinners or embiids) is another group within the Orthopteroid complex that probably appeared early in the Carboniferous period. Many insect taxonomists believe webspinners represent another evolutionary "dead end" that diverged about the same time as Plecoptera. Determining phylogenetic relationships for this group is unusually difficult because the Embioptera have a number of adaptations not found in any other insects. The tarsi of the front legs, for example, are enlarged and contain glands that produce silk. No other group of insects, fossil or modern, have silk-producing glands in the legs. The silk is used to construct elaborate nests and tunnels under leaves or bark. Webspinners live gregariously within these silken nests, feeding on grass, dead leaves, moss, lichens, or bark. Nymphs and adults are similar in appearance. Embiids rarely leave their silken tunnels; a colony grows by expanding its tunnel system to new food resources. Well-developed muscles in the hind legs allow these insects to run backward through their tunnels as easily as they run forward. Only adult males have wings. Front and hind wings are similar in shape and unusually flexible; they fold over the head when the insect runs backward through its tunnels. Blood (hemolymph) is pumped into anterior veins to stiffen the wings during flight. In Embioptera, the mouthparts are directed forward (prognathous) rather than downward as in other primitive orthropteroids. This may simply be an adaptation for life in a tunnel, or as some taxonomists have suggested, it may mean that Embioptera are really more closely related to earwigs (order Demaptera). Most Embioptera are tropical or subtropical. "

This specimen was obtained during excavations and explorations of the amber mines in the summer of 2004. This collector specimen has been examined by paleoentomologists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and is worthy of any museum's collection.

This beautiful authentic Dominican Amber specimen is offered here for $675.00 - complete satisfaction guaranteed, if you are not satisfied with your purchase you can return any specimen within 30 days for a full refund.

Shipping and Insurance
Within the USA - shipping and insurance is $5.00 - we ship all specimens US Postal Service Priority Mail. Outside of the USA - shipping and insurance to any country outside of the USA including Canada is $20.00 - we ship US Postal Service Global Express Mail. If you require any other method of shipping please contact us.

Payment
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About Us
To view more photos of us collecting amber in the field in the Alaskan Tundra, North Carolina, Wyoming, New Jersey, the western Aleutians and the Dominican Republic visit our 'About Us' page by clicking on the following link http://www.terratreasures.com/us/us.html.
We have been collecting amber in the field and prepping rough fossil amber specimens since 1993. We offer authentic museum quality Dominican Amber display specimens of rare insects in amber and also authentic rare Dominican rough unprepared amber for sale. Our collections include museum quality rare insects in amber, unusual botanicals and flowers in amber and also rough unprepared Dominican Amber gemstones. We have traveled many times to the Dominican Republic where we have chiseled beautiful amber gemstones out of the lignite layers deep in the amber mines north of Santiago. We have excavated in the Palo Quemado and Los CaCaos blue amber mines and also in La Nueva Toca and the world famous La Toca amber mines way up in the mountains north of Santiago. For many years we have extensively collected mid Cretaceous New Jersey amber in the Raritan formation of central New Jersey and have traveled many times to collect late Cretaceous and early Paleocene amber in the Hanna formation of eastern Wyoming. We have collected mid Cretaceous amber in the Black Creek formation of eastern North Carolina and we have spent weeks collecting mid Cretaceous amber in the northern most Tundra of Alaska. Our last collecting trips have been in October of 2003 to the western Aleutian Islands some 1000 miles west of Anchorage to explore and collect Miocene amber, December of 2003 we were back in the Dominican Republic to collect Miocene amber from the Palo Quemado amber mines which have recently closed due to the miners finding little amber, and most recently we were back to the Dominican Republic in August of 2004 to collect in the La Cumbre and Palo Quemado group of amber mines. We have donated many hundreds of amber specimens to museums in the United States and have several dozen new species of insects in amber named after us. We have examined several thousand specimens of rough Burmese amber and have prepped many new Burmese fossil amber specimens. We have traveled to Europe with colleagues to examine unusual spectacular Dominican Amber specimens in private collections and we consider the amber curators of the museums in Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata and New York City our friends. Exploring for and collecting amber along with the examination and research of amber is our passion.
To view photos and videos of our some of our amber excavations in the amber mines in mountains of the Dominican Republic and to see a small java applet of the amber mines click here - (opens in a new browser window). Our amber comes direct from the Dominican Republic amber mines east of the world famous La Toca amber mine. These specimens do not go through any middle men, we acquire these specimens from the miners and mine owners directly at the amber mines.