Amber

by Ross, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9780674017290
• ISBN10: 0674017293
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-03-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Amber has captured the human imagination for centuries, as amulets, ritual cups, and beads dating back 10,000 years attest. It is a fascinating substance, one that offers a unique intersection of the fields of paleontology, botany, entomology, and mineralogy. The fossilized resin of ancient trees, amber preserves organic material--most commonly insects and other invertebrates--and with it the shape and surface detail that are usually obliterated or hopelessly distorted during the mineralization we associate with fossils. To look at an ant or a bee caught in amber is to look not at an organism that has been turned to stone, but at the actual remains of an insect that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, remains that retain an uncanny semblance of life. Amber also offers clues to the evolution of certain behaviors, capturing such interactions as parasitism--a fruit fly with a parasitic mite still attached to it--or mutualism--a bubble of gas indicating the presence of beneficial bacteria in the gut of a termite. Unique to this book are identification keys to the most common insect inclusions as well as practical advice on how to identify all-too-common fakes. Amber will bring the study of this and its inclusions within reach of anyone with access to amber and a good magnifying glass.

Table of Contents

What Is Amber?	2	(2)
The Properties Of Amber	4	(2)
Fake Amber	6	(4)
The Uses Of Amber	10	(2)
Where Is Amber Found?	12	(4)
Baltic Amber	16	(4)
Dominican Amber	20	(1)
What Is A Species?	21	(1)
Amber Inclusions	22	(4)
Animal Interactions	26	(2)
Plant Inclusions	28	(4)
The Search For DNA	32	(2)
Biogeography	34	(1)
Arthropods	35	(5)
Key To Arthropods	38	(2)
The Insect Fossil Record	40	(1)
Insects	41	(5)
Key To Insects Without Wings	44	(2)
Incomplete Metamorphosis	46	(5)
Key To Winged Insects I	48	(3)
Incomplete Metamorphosis -- Bugs	51	(3)
Key To Bugs	52	(2)
Complete Metamorphosis	54	(3)
Key To Winged Insects II	56	(1)
Complete Metamorphosis -- Flies	57	(6)
Key To Flies	61	(2)
Wasps, Bees And Ants	63	(4)
Key To Wasps, Bees And Ants	65	(2)
Beetles	67	(3)
Key To Selected Beetles	68	(2)
Glossary	70	(2)
Index	72	(1)
Further Reading And Credits	73