Blaine's Bug of the Day

Roger wrote:

Yes, that a very kind gesture from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], a new member entering with a good spirit and showing figures rarely seen. Congratulations for completing this set, it is a very interesting one.

I didn't think I would ever complete it!!!!

I recently bought some Wing Mau snakes from NMR_Okapi and he threw in for free, and as a total surprise, a NEW SPECIES of arthropod for me, the Amazonian giant centipede, Scolopendra gigantea Linnaeus, 1758 by K&M International, part of the Venomous Adventure Nature Tube (1998). The bottom of the figure is marked 'giant Peruvian centipede', an alternative common name for this species.

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Congrats on a new species of arthropod, there can't be many left in plastic form that you don't have!

Very interesting Centipede.

Going on my wishlist!

Finding an arthropod missing in your collection is surely not an easy task.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], if you have the blue viper? and the coral snake from the same tube of this centipede, TAW is still missing pictures.

Today, I received the Life With Insect set by Bandai, new for 2020. These were sold as exclusives at a grocery store in Japan. I secured mine early, before the prices skyrocketed LOL. There are 8 figures; I bought 7 of them (the 8th was a color morph of the D. hercules and cost twice as much!). They figures are all 1:1 in scale.

First, the boxes (paper towel role shows you the sizes of the boxes - much of the size is in packaging).

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Figure A. Hercules beetle, Dynastes hercules:

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Figure B. Stag beetle, Prosocopoilus giraffa:

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Figure C. Goliath beetle, Goliathus goliatus:
This is a HUGE figure :)

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Figure D. Little Barrier giant weta, Deinacrida heteracantha:
I plan on making this my next blogpost!

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Figure E. This is a set of three smaller figures (but still 1:1). They are all immature stages:

1. The larva of the Japanese rhinoceros beetle, Allomyrina dichotoma:
Hard to appreciate in this pic, the posterior end of the abdomen is translucent.

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2. Larva of the Asian swallowtail, Papilio xuthus:

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3. nymphal exuvia of the large brown cicada, Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata:
Interesting, this is not the nymph, but rather the shed skin (exuvia). You can partially make out the slit in the top where the adult emerged from:

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Here is a group shot of all of them:

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These are so cool.

Now these must be big! Their boxes are almost as big as kitchen roll!

Advicot wrote:

Now these must be big! Their boxes are almost as big as kitchen roll!

it's a little deceiving, since a lot of space went into packaging.

Ahh ok

Very nice bugs, I like the The larva of the rhinoceros beetle

These look`s amazing !
And on your photos , the real models are just as great , as on the promo pics... even not greater.
I also wanted to get them, but I was late with my choice..and now the prices are
I am glad you took them earlier
Big congratulations Blaine

Very cool figures

They are very, very, very beautyful

very realistic!

These are all masterpieces in my opinion! They look all very realistic to me and the fact they are at 1:1 scale, is an important bonus. I am really impressed and your group shot makes this set looks tremendous. The weirdest thing to me is that cicada thing and I think my favourite model is the Goliath beetle. Though, on your group shot, the stag beetle looks like it is moving and that you used a real insect.

2020 Kaiyodo Revogeo Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia Smith, 1852.

This will be my next Blog review, later this week or next weekend.

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Congratulations

very impressive replica!

Cool. Nice thing about arthropods is the exoskeleton makes articulations much less obtrusive than in vertebrate models.

Uhhhh ! Run, run ! A creature from a horror movie

I know I am silly, but that picture gives me goose flesh

That probably means that it is a fabulously realistic model ?

I haven't commented much in the past because I am generally not much of an entomologist. However, I do enjoy perusing your models once in a while. That giant hornet is both beautifully colored and designed, it is a real art piece! And the beetles are beyond words... excellent recent acquisitions!

New arrivals today, the Anomalocaris canadensis and Olenoides serratus from the 2020 Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. set called, The Great Old Sea. They are articulated, and there is minimal assembly for the Anomalocaris. Not sure why I bought these, other than I am a completist for most arthropods identifiable at the genus or species level. These represent the first and third most commonly made extinct arthropods (Opabinia is probably second), and there are better examples on the market. Don't get me wrong, however, as I really like them. The third figure in the set was an (extant?) coelocanth.

I plan on reviewing the Amomalocaris for the Dino Toy Blog, and maybe the Olenoides, unless someone else really has the urge to.

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