Review: Butterfly Nature Tube (K&M International - Wild Republic)

This is a review of the entire set of the Butterfly Nature Tube by K&M - Wild Republic.

There are 12 figures in the set. Physically, and the design of several, are clearly influenced by the Butterflies Collectors Case by Safari LTD. The figures have a 60 mm wingspan on average. There are no names, neither on the figures themselves nor on any accompanying paperwork.

EDIT: 9/9/2017; looks like we have reasonable names for all 12 figures. Identifications below are mine or others (most notably, Bowhead Whale).

If anyone can confirm, correct, or expand upon our identifications, PLEASE do so :). I can edit the thread as needed.

1. southern dogface butterfly, Zerene cesonia.
This is one of two figure of this species, the other being by Toy Major. This figure could probably be made to represent one of several pierids, but since Z. cesonia is one of my favorites, that is what I am going with.

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2. monarch, Danaus plexippus.
A common among toy figures. I have additional figures by Safari LTD (Smithsonian Insects, Hidden Kingdom Insects, Authentics Insects, and Safariology Life Cycle series), CollectA, Cadbury (UK and Australian Yowies), Groovy Tube Books (Bug Blast!), Toy Major, 4D Master, Learning Resources (Jumbo Insects), and a host of un-named bin-style figures.

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3. paradise birdwing, Ornithoptera paradisea
I am basing my identification on the shape of the wings and the tails. However, I must admit, the color is more like the common green birdwing, O. priamus, which has been made a couple times in toy form.

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4. European peacock, Aglais io.
When I first posted this thread I thought this was a unique figure, but it had also been done by K&M for their Butterflies Mini Polybag and by Bullyland. They are also made as porcelain figurines (I have three as feves).

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5. crowned hairstreak, Evenus coronata

The color is not perfect, but this species has been made several times and it is most certainly a knock-off of other E. coronata figures, with I believe Club Earth starting the trend.

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6. Andromeda satyr, Cithaerias andromeda.
I placed this figure in this genus based on color and wing shape. Certainly one of the most interesting in the set. I do not have any other butterflies like it.

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7. paper kite, Idea leuconoe
I do not like assigning this name to this figure, but it is clearly a knock-off of the figure of the same name in Safari's Collectors Case series.

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8. silver-bordered fritillary, Boloria selene.
ID courtesy of Bowhead Whale (below). A new genus and species for me!

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9. the yellow zebra, Graphium deucalion.
This appears to be one of the jays in the genus Graphium, with G. deucalion being the most reasonable option.

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10. common green birdwing, Ornithoptera priamus.
Thanks to Isidro for this ID; I cannot come up with anything better!

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11. batwing butterfly, Atrophaneura semperi.
Thanks to Isidro for this suggestion. I cannot come up with anything better.

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12. broad-banded page, Siproeta superba.
Another ID courtesy of BW! Again, I cannot come up with anything better!

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Interesting set :)

bmathison1972 wrote:

This is a review of the entire set of the Butterfly Nature Tube by K&M - Wild Republic.

There are 12 figures in the set. Physically, and the design of several, are clearly influenced by the Butterflies Collectors Case by Safari LTD. The figures have a 60 mm wingspan on average. There are no names, neither on the figures themselves nor on any accompanying paperwork. I have broken the figures below into three categories:

A) Confident Identifications. These are where I am pretty sure I have identified the species or genus correctly.
B) Suggestive Identifications. These I think I am on the right page for their IDs. I have recently bought an atlas on butterflies to assist in their identifications, but I have not been able to confirm them all.
C) Not a Clue. These figures I cannot ID to the genus or species level; some may not have even been modeled after actual species. I am not a lepidopterist, so I am not sure.

If anyone can confirm, correct, or expand upon my identifications, PLEASE do so :). I can edit the thread as needed.



9. butterfly, NOS:
Based on the color, this could be a pierid, a danaine, or a satyrine. Seems distinctive but I cannot find a good match.

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Could it be a Pearl-Bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)? It has the same colors, is ocellated on the root of its rear wings and lots of spots on the external borders of the wings.

Bowhead Whale wrote:

bmathison1972 wrote:

This is a review of the entire set of the Butterfly Nature Tube by K&M - Wild Republic.

There are 12 figures in the set. Physically, and the design of several, are clearly influenced by the Butterflies Collectors Case by Safari LTD. The figures have a 60 mm wingspan on average. There are no names, neither on the figures themselves nor on any accompanying paperwork. I have broken the figures below into three categories:

A) Confident Identifications. These are where I am pretty sure I have identified the species or genus correctly.
B) Suggestive Identifications. These I think I am on the right page for their IDs. I have recently bought an atlas on butterflies to assist in their identifications, but I have not been able to confirm them all.
C) Not a Clue. These figures I cannot ID to the genus or species level; some may not have even been modeled after actual species. I am not a lepidopterist, so I am not sure.

If anyone can confirm, correct, or expand upon my identifications, PLEASE do so :). I can edit the thread as needed.



9. butterfly, NOS:
Based on the color, this could be a pierid, a danaine, or a satyrine. Seems distinctive but I cannot find a good match.

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Could it be a Pearl-Bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)? It has the same colors, is ocellated on the root of its rear wings and lots of spots on the external borders of the wings.

Very nice! Looks good to me, certainly good enough for our purposes! I will change the original post. Nice, a new genus for me. Good job, BW!

Thank you!
You know, I work very hard identifying those little lépidoptères. First, I go on the Internet and I enter the keywords that describe the lepidoptera (in this case: "orange butterfly species"). Then, on Wikipedia, I check every single species picture and compare it to the model. Sometimes, it takes hours. And here, I saw that lepidoptera with orange wings, ocellated patterns on the roots of the rear wings, and lots of stripes and dots on the borders. All the main characteristics fitted. When I am sure of my conclusion, I show it to you. And in this case, we were Lucky enough to be in front of a mold that was meant to represent that type of lepidopera, which is not always the case, the paint job creator and the sculptor often being two different people in toy buisiness. Because sometimes, the animal that was sculpted does not always end being painted to be the same animal as previously designed. Like that bottlenose dolphin painted as a killer whale I saw in a store. Or that lioness toy I saw transformed into a black panther (casted in black plastic). Or that Papillionidae Toy Major painted as a Luna Moth (yes, I am aware the Toy Major mold was first meant to be a butterfly, but despite long, endless research, I never found any butterfly with those whole green, purple-white ocellated wings; so it had to be Something else). In this case, everything fitted. But in this orange butterfly case, everything fitted: the mold and the paint job.

I do similar Google search tactics, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. These companies love to copy one-another, so often figuring out one in one series helps be ID another in a different series. For example, I probably never would have identified the Toy Major Cymothoe sangris if Safari hadn't included one in their Butterflies TOOB.

Put your Google search to work here. I am trying to identify some caterpillars.

For one set by Beam, I am stuck with these two (they are certainly both butterflies):

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For another generic set, I am having trouble with these. Could be butterflies or moths; a lepidopteran friend of mine who studies caterpillar behavior thinks they are all butterflies...

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[quote="bmathison1972"]I do similar Google search tactics, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. These companies love to copy one-another, so often figuring out one in one series helps be ID another in a different series. For example, I probably never would have identified the Toy Major Cymothoe sangris if Safari hadn't included one in their Butterflies TOOB.

Put your Google search to work here. I am trying to identify some caterpillars.

For one set by Beam, I am stuck with these two (they are certainly both butterflies):

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The second one, the striped yellow, white and black one, looks to me like an EASTERN BLACK SWALLOWTAIL Caterpillar (Polyxenes asterius).

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Thanks to this topic, I created a page to this tube on TAI. I confess I was already following this topic at ATF but, I had no chance yet of creating the page. The work isn't finished but it looks already great, I guess.
I knew Valérie was a very dedicated member and here is a result of her effort. I hope others can be identifyied in the future too.
Thanks Blaine for another interesting review.

Bowhead Whale wrote:

The second one, the striped yellow, white and black one, looks to me like an EASTERN BLACK SWALLOWTAIL Caterpillar (Polyxenes asterius).

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[/quote]

I had dismissed the tentacles as an osmeterium but I suppose it's possible... There are other swallowtails in the set and they are more robust than this one.

bmathison1972 wrote:

Bowhead Whale wrote:

The second one, the striped yellow, white and black one, looks to me like an EASTERN BLACK SWALLOWTAIL Caterpillar (Polyxenes asterius).

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I had dismissed the tentacles as an osmeterium but I suppose it's possible... There are other swallowtails in the set and they are more robust than this one.[/quote]

Yes, maybe ... but don't forget it is an asian set: everything on the information tags is written in corean or Something. So, I think the creators represented asian species of lepidopteres. Just like american companies tend to represent american species of insects. What do you think? Ah! If only we could read asian languages... we wouldn't have to burn midnight oïl to figure out what they had in mind. We would just have to read them and translate them.

bmathison1972 wrote:

I do similar Google search tactics, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. These companies love to copy one-another, so often figuring out one in one series helps be ID another in a different series. For example, I probably never would have identified the Toy Major Cymothoe sangris if Safari hadn't included one in their Butterflies TOOB.

Put your Google search to work here. I am trying to identify some caterpillars.

For another generic set, I am having trouble with these. Could be butterflies or moths; a lepidopteran friend of mine who studies caterpillar behavior thinks they are all butterflies...

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Could the first Caterpillar be a CINNABAR MOTH (Tyria jacobaeae) Caterpillar? Cinnabar moths are rather common in Europe and toy companies tend to represent well-known species, most of the time.

bmathison1972 wrote:

This is a review of the entire set of the Butterfly Nature Tube by K&M - Wild Republic.

There are 12 figures in the set. Physically, and the design of several, are clearly influenced by the Butterflies Collectors Case by Safari LTD. The figures have a 60 mm wingspan on average. There are no names, neither on the figures themselves nor on any accompanying paperwork. I have broken the figures below into three categories:

A) Confident Identifications. These are where I am pretty sure I have identified the species or genus correctly.
B) Suggestive Identifications. These I think I am on the right page for their IDs. I have recently bought an atlas on butterflies to assist in their identifications, but I have not been able to confirm them all.
C) Not a Clue. These figures I cannot ID to the genus or species level; some may not have even been modeled after actual species. I am not a lepidopterist, so I am not sure.

If anyone can confirm, correct, or expand upon my identifications, PLEASE do so :). I can edit the thread as needed.




10. bufferfly, NOS:
This is probably one of the 'tailless' swallowtails, maybe even another birdwing!

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Could this be this one? I read this is called "Papilio memnon coeruleus" and it's color variant of this species.

Bowhead Whale wrote:

bmathison1972 wrote:

I do similar Google search tactics, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. These companies love to copy one-another, so often figuring out one in one series helps be ID another in a different series. For example, I probably never would have identified the Toy Major Cymothoe sangris if Safari hadn't included one in their Butterflies TOOB.

Put your Google search to work here. I am trying to identify some caterpillars.

For another generic set, I am having trouble with these. Could be butterflies or moths; a lepidopteran friend of mine who studies caterpillar behavior thinks they are all butterflies...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Could the first Caterpillar be a CINNABAR MOTH (Tyria jacobaeae) Caterpillar? Cinnabar moths are rather common in Europe and toy companies tend to represent well-known species, most of the time.

I tossed around Tyria jacobaeae lot too, and may eventually go with it, but lepidopterists I have consulted believe it to be a pierid larva (still, I too am leaning towards Tyria).

Another thing, these molds have been copied from each other multiple times and the original may not have been Asian, so do not assume they are Asian species. The set included some definite North American species.

So, you think HG included occidental species? Well, it's possible. Anything is possible, in fact. This is why I was crying over the fact neither I nor you could understand Corean language. Because if we did, we would just have to translate their texts and things would have been a lot easier for both of us.

bmathison1972 wrote:

I do similar Google search tactics, sometimes they work sometimes they don't. These companies love to copy one-another, so often figuring out one in one series helps be ID another in a different series. For example, I probably never would have identified the Toy Major Cymothoe sangris if Safari hadn't included one in their Butterflies TOOB.

Put your Google search to work here. I am trying to identify some caterpillars

For another generic set, I am having trouble with these. Could be butterflies or moths; a lepidopteran friend of mine who studies caterpillar behavior thinks they are all butterflies...

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Your lepidopterian friend could be right about the SECOND Caterpillar on the picture: here is a picture of the Caterpillar of Phoebis sennae, a pierid.

bmathison1972 wrote:

This is a review of the entire set of the Butterfly Nature Tube by K&M - Wild Republic.

There are 12 figures in the set. Physically, and the design of several, are clearly influenced by the Butterflies Collectors Case by Safari LTD. The figures have a 60 mm wingspan on average. There are no names, neither on the figures themselves nor on any accompanying paperwork. I have broken the figures below into three categories:

A) Confident Identifications. These are where I am pretty sure I have identified the species or genus correctly.
B) Suggestive Identifications. These I think I am on the right page for their IDs. I have recently bought an atlas on butterflies to assist in their identifications, but I have not been able to confirm them all.
C) Not a Clue. These figures I cannot ID to the genus or species level; some may not have even been modeled after actual species. I am not a lepidopterist, so I am not sure.

If anyone can confirm, correct, or expand upon my identifications, PLEASE do so :). I can edit the thread as needed.


11. swallowtails, NOS
This may or may not (favoring the latter) even be painted after actual species.

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Could it be a PAPILIO POLYTES (Common Mormon butterfly)? I know the front wings are not a perfect match, but look at the rear wings: they are very alike.

1) The P. sennae is a possibility; I have a similar set of caterpillars with a figure that is more sennae-like, and that's why I probably didn't consider it. I will look around for others in the genus

2) similarly, the Papilio is a good thought, and I am tempted to go with it. Again, maybe snoop around in the species complex

I think I need to upload the entire BEAM caterpillar set so you can see what all is in it, and what I have already identified. Same with a similar set by an unknown manufacturer. Caterpillar sets like these have been made at least 4 times with different assortments.

bmathison1972 wrote:

1) The P. sennae is a possibility; I have a similar set of caterpillars with a figure that is more sennae-like, and that's why I probably didn't consider it. I will look around for others in the genus

2) similarly, the Papilio is a good thought, and I am tempted to go with it. Again, maybe snoop around in the species complex

I think I need to upload the entire BEAM caterpillar set so you can see what all is in it, and what I have already identified. Same with a similar set by an unknown manufacturer. Caterpillar sets like these have been made at least 4 times with different assortments.

I snooped around lepidoptran species a lot already! I think I need a break right now...

Oh! By the way, please take a look at the black and blue butterfly shown earlier: I have a new idea of what it could be.

that Papilio memnon is a really good idea, prob the subspecies agenor, ab. primigenius.

If my conclusions are right up to now, it means there is only one butterfly left to identify: the swallowtail with the white stripes...

Bowhead Whale wrote:

If my conclusions are right up to now, it means there is only one butterfly left to identify: the swallowtail with the white stripes...

that black and yellow 'Graphium' prob can use some work too

Ok. So I will look for Graphium species to morrow.

Bowhead Whale wrote:

Ok. So I will look for Graphium species to morrow.

What I mean is that it might not be a Graphium...

Also I am not 100% sold on Papilio polytes yet for the pinkish one, but will snoop around that area.

I have posted the complete set of Beam caterpillars under Misc. Japanese Companies.

Thank you for all your hard work on these, it is VERY VERY much appreciated. More than you might realize!