Blaine's Bug of the Day

Beautieful again

Update of the common tiger, also known as the striped tiger or Asian tiger, Danaus genutia (Cramer, 1779), the southeastern Asian cousin to the monarch.

Updating with a figure by Insect Lore as part of their Big Bunch-O Butterflies collection (which are essentially repaints of the K&M International Butterflies Nature Tube figures). Here it is alongside the other figure of this species, by Yujin (Insects of Japan). [the Insect Lore figure might be intended to be the more familiar monarch, but with only white markings in the upper corners of the forewings, D. genutia is a better option]

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Great additions :)

Having recently acquired the Club Earth figure, I thought it would be good to revisit the Genoveva azure, Ogyris genoveva (Hewitson, 1853). The Club Earth figure probably started the trend of this painting pattern for this species, since it really is not a great likeness of most morphotypes of the species.

From left to right:
Toy Major
unknown manufacturer [from a set clearly modeled after the CE figures]
K&M International (Butterfly Mini Polybag)
Club Earth (Butterflies to Go)

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Nice too :)

Another species for which I recently acquired the Club Earth version, Cramer's mesene, Mesene phareus (Cramer, 1777). This is one of a very few members of the family Riodinidae to be made in toy/figure form!

Left to right:
1. US Toy
2. Toy Major
3. Club Earth (Butterflies to Go)
4. unknown manufacturer [from a set clearly influenced by the Club Earth set]

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Glad you are enjoying them, Andreas :)

The last species for which I recently acquired the Club Earth figure is the monarch, Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus 1758). This is the first species I showcased on Bug of the Day, and I have gotten more figures since that original post. After all, it is the most commonly-made butterfly at the species level!

For starters, ceramic figurines. Figures from the Franklin Mint (Butterflies of the World) and Little Critterz (large adult from the Northern Rose line and a small adult and caterpillar from the standard line). Also a couple French feves and a small figurine that may had originally been doll house decor.

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These next figures are the larger, 'elevated' figures. The largest figure is by 4D Master, along with figures by Safari LTD (caterpillar from the Smithsonian Insects line and adult from the Hidden Kingdom line), CollectA, and K&M Internationals (Magnamorphs). The CollectA is probably the best of them all!

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Three more random large figures, one of unknown origin and one each from K&M International (Insects Polyvinyl bag) and Learning Resources (Jumbo Insects).

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Lastly the smaller plastic figures. From left to right, top to bottom:
1. life cycle by Safari LTD (Safariology)
2. K&M International (Butterflies Nature Tube)
3. US Toy
4. Club Earth (Butterflies to Go)
5. Yowies (Australian release)
6. Toy Major
7. unknown manufacturer
8. Safari LTD (Authentics Butterflies)
9. Yowies (UK release)

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...and still I just realized I forgot a couple! Oh well... :)

Unbelievable :)

Hallucigenia sparsa Morris, 1977 by Trilobiti. It came from Italy and the figure broke in a couple places during transit. I put it back together ok but might need some touch-up painting. Note the base is not included with this figure; it was made for me as an apology for taking a while to process my order.

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Evolution of our understanding of H. sparsa. Left to right:
1. COG Ltd.
2. Kaiyodo (Dinotales)
3. Favorite Co. Ltd. (Cambrian Creatures Mini Model - Burgess Shale)
4. Trilobiti

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That is a very beautiful piece and almost as old as I am. Is Trilobiti a maker of fossil replicas?
That may surely be a fragile piece and all care should be taken while sending it, although we know that the damage do not always result from the way it is pakcaged but the way post services handle them.

Roger wrote:

That is a very beautiful piece and almost as old as I am. Is Trilobiti a maker of fossil replicas?
That may surely be a fragile piece and all care should be taken while sending it, although we know that the damage do not always result from the way it is pakcaged but the way post services handle them.

Roger, Trilobiti mainly sells real fossils, but they have a few models and replicas. They are museum-quality and can be quite expensive. But the quality is spectacular. Next I think I will get their Tully Monster!

And it was packaged well; the breakage was surely due to handling en route. Trilobiti was nice enough to discount my next shipment :)

Revisiting this figure, which is aquarium decor sold by Blue Ribbon Pet Products, and calling it Lissocarcinus orbicularis (Dana, 1852), the sea cucumber crab. For all intents and purposes, this is a generic crab, and a lot of artistic license went into making it (especially with the red tubercles all over the legs), but the carapace structure and color best fits L. orbicularis. I had initially suspected with is something in the genus Porcellana but it really has no features of a porcelain crab.

And, an added bonus for an arthropod specialist, it is sitting on a bunch of barnacles (which alone would make a nice figure)!!!!!

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bmathison1972 wrote:

Evolution of our understanding of H. sparsa. Left to right:
1. COG Ltd.
2. Kaiyodo (Dinotales)
3. Favorite Co. Ltd. (Cambrian Creatures Mini Model - Burgess Shale)
4. Trilobiti

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It is really a wonderful model and it is great you managed to save it!

It is a real temptation but I now my banker will help me to resist

I like the evolution pic a lot, my only hope is that Kaiyodo will make a new and affordable one soon.

My favourite of h. sparsa is trilobiti.


It is a very detailed figure

Thank you Christophe and Fernando for the continued support :)

bmathison1972 wrote:

Revisiting this figure, which is aquarium decor sold by Blue Ribbon Pet Products, and calling it Lissocarcinus orbicularis (Dana, 1852), the sea cucumber crab. For all intents and purposes, this is a generic crab, and a lot of artistic license went into making it (especially with the red tubercles all over the legs), but the carapace structure and color best fits L. orbicularis. I had initially suspected with is something in the genus Porcellana but it really has no features of a porcelain crab.

And, an added bonus for an arthropod specialist, it is sitting on a bunch of barnacles (which alone would make a nice figure)!!!!!

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Very nice

Thank you Andreas!

A new species for me, Odontolabis lacordairei (Vollenhoven, 1861). This figure, which to the best of my knowledge is unique, is by Epoch in their Beetle Battle Set 2 (2005).
This is my 13th species of Odontolabis, and my second acquired recently!!!

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Another new species for me this week, and another species of Odontolabis, Odontolabis alces (Fabricius, 1775). This is a small, standard figure by Sega.

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Nice again

While I am on a trend of new species, here is another this week, the firefly Pyrocoelia fumosa (Gorham, 1883). This figure is part of a set of five fireflies by a company called N. Ohba. Wow. The set came out in 2005 and I was unaware of it until recently. I was tempted to do a walkaround, but I'd rather try to get the complete set and do a review. There are 5 species in the set, all come on habitat-style bases. The beetles themselves are small; the base on this one is 6.5 cm (the beetle is about 2.0 cm, making it about 2:1).

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Small, but very detailed.