Blaine's Bug of the Day

widukind wrote:

Lots of brands and figures that i never have seen before :)

You should pursue the small Sega beetles; 100 figures representing 75 species and a good size for you!

bmathison1972 wrote:

widukind wrote:

Lots of brands and figures that i never have seen before :)

You should pursue the small Sega beetles; 100 figures representing 75 species and a good size for you!

Thank you, i prefer more mammals and birds :)

March of the elephant...beetles! Megasoma elephas (Fabricius, 1775). Probably the second most commonly-made American beetle species.

From left to right, top to bottom:
1. F-toys (Itakon- Itami City Museum of Insects)
2. 4D Master (Beetle Collection)
3. Wing Mau
4. Sega (Mushi King)
5. Kabaya (Insect Directory)
6. Colorata (Tropical Rain Forest Rhinoceros Beetles)
7. Sega [small series, standard]
8. Epoch (Beetle Battle 2)
9. Access Toys
10. Hayakwa Toys (Insect Collection - Special)
11. Maruka (The Strongest Beetle Legend)
12. Sega

[represented but not shown: DeAgostini (World Insect Data Book)]

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Great again

Gorgeous Goliathini and Gymnetini! These two tribes of scarabs are popular with collectors but still relatively uncommon among toy figures. They are mostly tropical in distribution and contain some of the heaviest and largest extant insect species! [for some reason I skipped over number 10 when labeling them...]

1. Goliathus orientalis Moser, 1909 - DeAgostini (World Insect Data Book)
2. Mecynorrhina polyphemus (Fabricius, 1781) - DeAgostini (World Insect Data Book)
3. Goliathus regius Klug, 1835 - Play Visions (Exotic Beetles)
4. Goliathus goliatus (Drury, 1770) - unknown Japanese manufacturer
5. Mecynorhina oberthuri kirchneri (Drumont, 1998) - Shapeways (Eric's Studio)
6. G. goliatus - Furuta (Chocoegg Funny Animals Series 2)
7. Dicronorhina derbyana Westwood, 1843 - XX
8. Cotinis nitida (Linnaeus, 1758) - unknown manufacturer [this is a knock-off of the XX figure which I do not have]
9. Trigonophorus rothschildi varians Bourgoin,1914 - unknown manufactuer
11. Dicronorhina micans Drury, 1773 - 4D Master (Beetle Collection)
12. Jumnos ruckeri Saundera, 1839 - Play Visions (Exotic Beetles)
13. J. ruckeri - XX
14. Pseudotorynorrhina japonica (Hope, 1841) - Kaiyodo (Insects Gather to Sap - Night Feast of Midsummer) [2 color variants]

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Some looks like real, unbelievable :)

Amazing. My wife would kill me, if I would start to collect them.

Megaptera wrote:

Amazing. My wife would kill me, if I would start to collect them.

.. and some other wives would try to kill the figures instead.

beautiful photo and great information of these insects.

Yes, thank you for the information and the great pictures.

Getting new batches up figures allows me to update more species' treatments. Today, it's the Japanese spiny lobster, Panulirus japonicus (Von Siebold, 1824). This is one of six species in the genus to be made in figure form!

From left to right:
Epoch
Kaiyodo (Enoshima Aquarium Series 1)
Kitan Club - Nature Techni Colour (Nature of Japan Vol. 1)
Eikoh (Miniature Planet)

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These spiny lobsters look amazing! I love the display as well.

Nice again :)

Look at these big dorks! By which I mean, Dorcus titanus (Boisduval, 1835). This common southeast Asian stag beetle is not uncommonly made, and the Japanese companies have produce five different subspecies!!!

1. Dorcus titanus palawanicus (Lacloix, 1984).
Left to right, top to bottom:
1. Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. (B.I.G. Beetles, 2016)
2. Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. (B.I.G. Beetles, 2017)
3. Sega (DX, large)
4. Sega (standard series, large)
5. Access Toys
6. ShanTrip

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2. Dorcus titanus pilifer (Vollenhoven, 1861).
One figure, a small series figure by Sega.

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3. Dorcus titanus platymelus (Saunders, 1854).
Left to right:
1. Yujin (Insects of Japan)
2. F-toys (Insect Hunter Beetle and Stag Beetle, 2011)

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4. Dorcus titanus sakishimanus (Nomura, 1964).
Left to right:
1. F-toys (Insect Hunter Beetle and Stag Beetle, 2013)
2. F-toys (Insect Hunter Beetle and Stag Beetle, 2018)

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5. Dorcus titanus titanus (Boisduval, 1835)
One figure of the type subspecies, by DeAgostini (World Insect Data Book).

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Wow again :)

Absolut super!!!

Great insects! I love the joke about their scientific name, but would be leery of calling them this. These are some pretty serious looking insects.

haha right you are, baracudacat.

Next, Megasoma actaeon (Linnaeus, 1758).

Left to right, top to bottom:
4D Master (Beetle Collection)
Sega (DX, large)
Sega (standard, large)
F-toys (Insect Hunter Beetle and Stag Beetle, 2018)
Sega
Sega (Fighting Beetles)
ShanTrip
Sega (small magnet)

In my collection but not shown: DeAgostini (World Insect Data Book).

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Wonderful again

These beetles are amazing! It's great to see all the different scales they come in.

Next up, the giant Japanese mantid, Tenodera aridifolia (Stoll, 1813). This is the go-to species of mantid from Japanese manufacturers. Surprisingly, Kaiyodo has yet to make one!

1-3, 8. Break Co. LTD*
4. Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. (B.I.G. Insects, 2015)
5. Hayakwa Toys (Insects Collection - Special)**
6. Yujin (Insects of Japan)
7. Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. (B.I.G. Insects, 2016)
9. Bandai (Figure Pictorial Book of Gakken Insect)
10. Furuta (Insect Science)

* these four figures (1, 2, 3, 8 ) are color forms of the same sculpt
** this is a generic mantid, but being from a Japanese company it most-certainly represents T. aridifolia.

Darn after I took and edited the image, I realized I forgot to image the Rement figure. Oh well, next time :-)

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I love mantises! I didn't know there were so many nice ones with such unique poses. These are definitely great additions.

The stag beetle, Prosopocoilus confucius (Hope, 1842).

From largest to smallest:
Safari LTD (Smithsonian Insects)
F-toys (Insect Hunter, 2018)
Groovy Tube Books (Bug Blast!)
unknown manufacturer [from a bucket set called 'Jungle Bugs' sold at the Rainforest Cafe]

Note: The F-toys figure is the only one specifically marketed as this species. The Safari Figure is a best-fit and the two smaller figures were most-certainly influenced by the Safari figure.

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This is the last species to update with recent acquisitions. More later...



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