Fossil termite

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colohank
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Fossil termite

Post by colohank »

New member here, and a first post.

A friend handed me a tiny chip of amber he'd purchased at a rock shop in Moab, UT and asked if I'd like to photograph it. A slip of paper packed with the specimen bore a penciled scribble that simply read, "termite."

There was no other information regarding its provenance, but a bit of research suggests that most commercially available amber comes either from Russia's curiously detached Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic coast, from the Dominican Republic, or from a variety of lesser sources around the globe. If Russian, then the insect became mired down in pine sap during the Eocene Epoch, about 44 million years ago. If Dominican, then it was enveloped by the sap of an extinct species of Hymenaea perhaps 25 million years ago. Either way, it's an old critter, and its superb state of preservation suggests that the ancient Egyptians were barking up the wrong tree when they devised their methods for preparing mummies.

I've long used a macro lens but just began to dabble with higher magnification photography when I found a like-new bellows on eBay in late 2020. For these images, I shot stacks of from twelve to sixteen frames at focus intervals of about 5/32mm and aligned and merged them using Affinity Photo software. I used a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 D lens on a Nikon PB-6 bellows at full extension, the whole business mounted on a SunwayFoto focusing rail, and I employed a shutter delay of three seconds to allow mirror vibrations to damp. Illumination was provided by two small no-name LED lights on flexible arms. Because the surface of the amber was irregular and reflective, I had to experiement a bit with specimen orientation and lighting angles before acheving these results.

Thanks for looking. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Hank
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MarkSturtevant
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by MarkSturtevant »

Interesting! That does indeed look like a termite. If there is no provenance to the piece, it could be relatively common like Baltic amber, or copal, which is very old tree resin that is not old enough to be considered fossilized.
Mark Sturtevant
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colohank
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by colohank »

Thanks for your thoughts about the distinctions between fossil amber and copal, Mark. I'd heard of copal varnish but had no idea of its origins or constituents. A distinguishing test between the two substances, according to the article I read, is to see how a sample reacts to acetone. Fossil amber is unaffected, and copal dissolves and softens slightly. Since the specimen isn't mine, I guess I'll never know for sure what it is.

Lou Jost
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by Lou Jost »

Maybe you can smell it? Copal has a distinctive turpentine odor. We have the copal tree growing wild here.

colohank
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by colohank »

The specimen had no odor.

Lou Jost
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by Lou Jost »

I suppose that makes sense; after a few thousand years the volatiles should be gone, no matter what it smelled like.

Scarodactyl
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by Scarodactyl »

Indonesian amber is still delightfully fragrant when ground or heated.

MarkSturtevant
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by MarkSturtevant »

I have a large chunk of copal, with lots of insects in it (which is why I bought it, of course). It is odorless, but I have no idea about its age.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

Bob-O-Rama
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Re: Fossil termite

Post by Bob-O-Rama »

colohank wrote:
Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:19 am
A distinguishing test between the two substances, according to the article I read, is to see how a sample reacts to acetone.
Eureka! The density of amber ( and pine rosin ) is higher than for copal. 10% salt by weight in water gives a density of about 1.07 g/ml. So copal with few inclusions would float, amber / rosin would sink. ( Yeah, yeah, yeah, there is a range. ) If you have a piece of amber or rosin or copal, you can use them as a hydrometer. Or get a real hydrometer. Start adding salt slowly. The copal should start floating with a lot less salt in solution.

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