Blaine's Bug of the Day

Roger wrote:

Some are generic but marketed to a species level while other are clearly based in a certain species but marketed with a generic identification. That's collectors life.

Indeed!

A new species for me, the zebra pillbug, Armadillidium maculatum Risso, 1816 by Bandai for the third release of the Dango Mushi line.

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Here are all my Dango Mush isopods. The two in front that are opened up are the original colors for Cubaris murina and Armadillidium vulgare. In the back, from left to right are the five species:
1. Bathynomus giganteus
2. Cubaris murina
3. Armadillidium maculatum
4. Armadillidium klugii
5. Armadillidium vulgare

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Wow

I enjoy particularly this group!

These are brilliant.

A new genus and species for me, the banded peacock, Anartia fatima (Fabricius, 1793) by Land & Sea Collectibles. This is another of the small stonecast butterfly figurines by Land & Sea. I have six now, bought randomly on eBay. I have seen two others that I do not have yet. Of the 8 (including 5 that I have), the identifications are pretty straight-forward (my sixth is colored more like an emerald moth...)

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Nice figure

Beautiful model, congratulations.

thanks everyone!

Another new genus and species for me, the golden ghost crab Ocypode convexa Quoy & Gaimard, 1824 by Yowie Group's newest series, Colors of the Animal Kingdom

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For a detailed review, see my blog post:

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A very interesting and nice crab, on my wishlist too :)

Very interesting species. It's always a pleasure to see some new Crustacean species:)

Megaptera wrote:

Very interesting species. It's always a pleasure to see some new Crustacean species:)

I agreen!

The stag beetle, Dorcus curvidens (Hope, 1840) by Kaiyodo -Chocoegg Animatales Series 1. I am astonished there was a Chocoegg arthropod figure I did not have! I have no idea how it escaped me for so long!
Of note, there is some taxonomic confusion between D. curvidens and D. hopei. This was marketed as the former, but could easily represent the latter. They are too similar in morphology to be separated in figures.

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Congratulations

Revisiting the red-streaked box crab, Calappa lophos (Herbst, 1782) by Ikimon - Nature Techni Colour for the 2019 set Seaside Creatures Vol. 2. To my knowledge, this is the first C. lophos figure not made by Kaiyodo (but it looks as though Bandai will release one in their Dango Mushi line later this year). It is nearly the same size as the Kaiyodo figures, but the claws (front legs) are attached medially.

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Here it is (on the rock), overlooking the three by Kaiyodo:

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Beautiful crabs

Three females of the green stag beetle, Lamprima adolphinae (Gestro, 1875). These three beetles were 'chase' figures released in conjunction with the 2008 set, Encyclopedia of Insects Vol. 3. But, they were only sold by phone in Japan. If you purchased the main set, there was a phone number on the box. You called the number and ordered the set over the phone, and then they would be shipped to you. I think there was a limited number (200? Beetle Guy can correct me if I am wrong). These figures are VERY rare (but luckily were not too expensive). Thanks to Beetle Guy for alerting me to them, and Brett and Emiko for securing them!

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Now these three males have dates to take to the prom :). The two outer males are from the corresponding 2008 F-toys set. The male in the middle is by Sega. The sexual dimorphism is accurate there; the females are very small next to the males.

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Very rare models with nice paint. Congrats Blaine.

Today is the last of my recent arthropod acquisitions, the Japanese horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus (Leach, 1819). This figure was released in late 2019 by Kitan Club (good to know that KC is still making figures, even if Ikimon has taken over the Nature Techni Colour line). The figure is a wind-up toy; normally I do not collect these, but for a horseshoe crab I can make an exception :). The figure was one of a set of five, all representing different colors: dark brown (here), black (or very dark brown), brick-red, tan (camel), and white (albino?). I picked the dark brown one as I thought it was the most 'natural looking' (although the camel-colored one could work, too).

There are two other horseshoe crabs that have been announced to date for 2020, one my Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. (looks like the next release of the Friends of Water collection) and CollectA. I won't be able to ID them until I see them in-hand, but looking at promo pics, the CollectA figure looks like Tachypleus tridentatus while the Takara figure looks like the Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus (kinda the reverse of what one might expect).

EDIT: The Takara figure is likely a male T. tridentatus, which has six longer spines...

I may do a thorough blog review of this KC horseshoe crab, we shall see...

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Here is the figure with additional figures of T. tridentatus by For Corporation, Kaiyodo (2), and Epoch

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I believe I've never heard before of figures that only were available by phone and to turn it even more difficult, after using a code. Japanese take the collecting hobby quite seriously and those are surely very rare collectibles.

I like all the horseshoe crabs

bmathison1972 wrote:

Today is the last of my recent arthropod acquisitions, the Japanese horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus (Leach, 1819). This figure was released in late 2019 by Kitan Club (good to know that KC is still making figures, even if Ikimon has taken over the Nature Techni Colour line). The figure is a wind-up toy; normally I do not collect these, but for a horseshoe crab I can make an exception :). The figure was one of a set of five, all representing different colors: dark brown (here), black (or very dark brown), brick-red, tan (camel), and white (albino?). I picked the dark brown one as I thought it was the most 'natural looking' (although the camel-colored one could work, too).

There are two other horseshoe crabs that have been announced to date for 2020, one my Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. (looks like the next release of the Friends of Water collection) and CollectA. I won't be able to ID them until I see them in-hand, but looking at promo pics, the CollectA figure looks like Tachypleus tridentatus while the Takara figure looks like the Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus (kinda the reverse of what one might expect).

EDIT: The Takara figure is likely a male T. tridentatus, which has six longer spines...

I may do a thorough blog review of this KC horseshoe crab, we shall see...

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Here is the figure with additional figures of T. tridentatus by For Corporation, Kaiyodo (2), and Epoch

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Wonderful. This year's horseshoe crap by CollectA is also a Japanese one, isn't it?

Megaptera, based on initial promo pics, yes, the CollectA figure looks to be the Japanese species.

Revisiting the emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator (Koch, 1842), new for 2020 by Mojo Fun!

For a complete review of this figure, please check out my blogpost: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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