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Explore my newest Instagram Images

Fresh photo drop on Instagram
Take a look (you’ll need an account) — which one’s your favorite?

Dilaridae (Neuroptera)

Larva of whirligig beetles, Cretogyrus beuteli ZHAO et al. 2019

Another package with three AmberArt II books is ready to head off to the USA.

Symphrasinae (Neuroptera: Mantispidae)

An unusual coleopteran specimen, tentatively assigned to Tenebrionoidea, preserved in opaque/impurity-rich amber. Any suggestions for a more precise identification?

Cyclophoridae (Mollusca) in umbilical view, preserved in amber of poor optical clarity. The matrix contains abundant stellate trichomes, scattered terpene oil droplets, and fecal pellets, consistent with entrapment in a resin flow active within leaf litter or bark debris in close proximity to a trichome-bearing plant surface.

Cancris auriculus (left) and Planulina ariminensis (right) digitally mirrored.

A big Pyramidulina raphanus with a small Stylostomella to its left.

In addition to an impressive number of foraminifera, these Pliocene clays also yield gastropods, lamellibranchs, and, in this case, what appears to be a fish scale. Since it was tiny and translucent, I tried to capture it using two crossed polarizing filters, what a surprise to see the colors of birefringence emerge when processing the RAW file.

The allure of the spiral runs through every scale of existence. In the minute chambers of foraminifera, each new loculus added at a constant angle to the last, the logarithmic spiral emerges not as ornament but as structural necessity, the only geometry that allows growth without change of form.

Two unusual alate and spinose ostracods: Cytheropteron sp. (top) and Lixouria aquila RUGGIERI, 1972 (bottom), in which the adductor muscle scars, located in the center-left area of the valve, are also visible.

I really like a lot this foraminifera, it is not a new image acquired by the Artemis II mission around the hidden face of the Moon. :-)

Miliolinids are benthic foraminifera of the suborder Miliolina, immediately recognizable by their porcelaneous, imperforate wall, dense and opaque, with the creamy-white appearance that distinguishes them from the glassy tests of rotaliid foraminifera. Their chambers coil in shifting planes around a longitudinal axis, producing the looping geometries typical of genera such as Quinqueloculina, Triloculina, and Pyrgo

Playing with (digital) reflections. Images of an ostracod valve.

Spiroloculina depressa D'ORBIGNY, 1826

Beautifully ornamented ostracod shell, showing clavate spines and a distinct crystal tubercle (upper right)

An elongated nearly complete Stylostomella cf. lepidula from the Argille di Ortovero Formation (Lower-Middle Pliocene) marine sediment in Liguria, Italy.

Two tiny fossils, side by side, both less than a millimeter tall. Both single-celled organisms. Both recovered from the same Argille di Ortovero Formation (Lower-Middle Pliocene) marine sediment in Liguria, Italy.

Here is a minute specimen of Globigerina (probably belonging to the species woodi) from the grey clayey marls of the Argille di Ortovero Formation, dated to the Lower–Middle Pliocene of western Liguria (Italy).

At the Dawn of Mammals:

Marvelous and big Burmopsychops limoae

A nice Neuroptera preserved in amber with its wings fully spread. These fascinating insects were already flying over the dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period, and this specimen is a rare and spectacular example of what the Burmese amber has to offer!

Scientists have uncovered 3.4 billion-year-old organic microfossils in the Strelley Pool Formation, Western Australia, which are now considered the oldest known authentic traces of life. These microfossils, preserved in chert, consist of nitrogen- and oxygen-rich organic molecules that have remained intact despite exposure to extreme temperatures (~300 °C). Advanced techniques like Raman spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, and XANES revealed their exceptional molecular preservation, attributed to early silicification, which protected them from degradation over billions of years.

Otto copie di AmberArt II sono in viaggio verso l'Italia, acquistate da Maurizio Woodland, grazie Maurizio!

In my previous post, I mentioned that the quality of Burmese amber is often poor, complex, and full of debris, inclusions, and droplets of oil (terpenes). However, that’s not always the case.

I hate it.

The Jeerinah Formation (also spelled Jerrinah) is an important geological unit within the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia. Dated to roughly 2.63–2.7 billion years ago, it marks a pivotal boundary between the late Archean and the earliest Proterozoic eons.

Miridae (Hemiptera) in ventral view. I like a lot the composed eyes and the mouth part composed by the long labium and the short labrum

Thank you for your response. ✨

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