Plecia pealei Fly Fossils from USA

Plecia pealei fly fossils from the USA

While we have probably all seen a fly or an insect trapped in Amber or Copal, these fossils are far less common. They are the genuine remains of insects turned to stone.

Soft tissues generally do not fossilise - it is usually the hard bones, teeth, etc that tend to fossilise. For these soft tissues to fossilise, very specific events must have taken place - in all likelihood covered by a very fine silty mud soon after death, or as a cause of death, before being covered in layers of sediment.

These pieces are not as well preserved as the Chinese fly specimens we sell. They are more like a fly outline on stone.

These specimens are Plecia pealei, from the Eocene period. They were found in the Green River formation of Wyoming, USA.

Our current stock includes:

• #1 - 60x55.5x10.5MM - a clipped square of stone with an outstretched fly - limited detail.