Institute for the Study
of Earth and Man

 

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Amber from Hispaniola
   

The specimen studied by Mike Polcyn at ISEM was discovered by Bill Lowe of Granbury, Texas, in a commercial shipment of amber containing plant and insect inclusions. The specimen was donated to the Shuler Museum of Paleontology at Southern Methodist University.

The shipment of amber originated in the Dominican Republic, but was purchased through a broker. Details regarding the precise provenance of the specimen are therefore unknown, but it probably came from the Cierdillera Septentrional.

The age of the Dominican deposits is considered to be Oligocene to Middle Miocene, or Early to Middle Miocene, 10 million to 30 million years ago.

The island of Hispaniola is the second largest in the West Indies and is located just west of Puerto Rico. The island is now divided into the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
 

 

 

  
           
   

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