Mathison Museum of Natural History

Nice again

Very beautiful pest species and picture!

Caracal wrote:

Very beautiful pest species and picture!

Well, the beetle is native and the tree is introduced, so which is the real pest haha

I saw some Sega beetle on ebay with wheels on the belly, the sellers specified they are Mushiking. I need your knowledge Blaine

Kikimalou wrote:

I saw some Sega beetle on ebay with wheels on the belly, the sellers specified they are Mushiking. I need your knowledge Blaine

Mushi King is a VERY LARGE line of insects made by Sega. Within that line there are lots of sets. The one presented here is from the 'standard' set. Some are on habitat-style bases. Some on wheels. Some have magnets. Some are articulated. Some are 1-2 cm. Some are giant. There is a lot of variation under the 'Mushi King' umbrella.

I did a review of Sega beetles here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Several of these sets are under the Mushi King brand.

Thank you, I remember now your impressive collection

Species: Randallia ornata (Randall, 1840) (purple globe crab)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Play Visions
Series: Habitat Earth: Crabs
Year of Release: 1996
Size/Scale: Legspan 6.0 cm. Carapace width 2.0 cm for a scale of 1:2.7
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The only other figure of this species I am aware of is the one by PEC, whose crab collection consists primarily of figures that were heavily influenced by, or copies of, Play Visions crabs.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Coastal California and Baja California
Habitat: Benthic, sandy bottoms at a depth of 0-21 meters
Diet: Marine invertebrates, organic material
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Randallia ornata is primarily nocturnal, staying buried in the sand during the day and coming out at night to feed.

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beautiful crab and lovely backyard!

Great figure

Love it!

The crustaceans have been getting good representation, considering I am using a randomized selection process. That's OK, crustaceans have become my favorite group to collect.

Species: Halcyon coromanda (Latham, 1790) (ruddy kingfisher)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Chocoegg Animatales Series 4
Year of Release: 2000
Size/Scale: Figure height 5.0 cm. Total body length 7.0 cm for a scale of 1:3.5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Being an older Chocoegg figure, some assembly is required.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: East and Southeast Asia, Japan
Habitat: Dense temperate and tropical forests, riparian areas; occasionally disturbed areas, gardens, plantations, agricultural fields
Diet: Fish, amphibians, crustaceans, insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Like many birds, H. coromanda is monogamous. Pairs nest in tree holes, termite nests, and sand banks; both parents participate in digging, incubating, and care of the chicks.

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Lovely little kingfisher!

Beautiful kingfisher I did'nt know and wonderful display in its natural biotop!

Caracal wrote:

Beautiful kingfisher I did'nt know and wonderful display in its natural biotop!    

Thanks. I was excited to finally use this PLM Dioramansion background! I have two more styles I haven't used yet, one a field with flowers and the other pine forest in snow.

Beautiful bird

Species: Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758) (green sea turtle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Koro Koro
Series: Ecological Drawing Museum - Heartbeat of Life
Year of Release: 2010
Size/Scale: Base 4.8 cm. Total body length 5.0 cm. Carapace length 3.7 cm for a scale of 1:21-1:34
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: The figure sits loosely on its sand base. When you lift the turtle from the base, it reveals a clutch of eggs (see inset). There are some slightly more detailed figures of this species in this size range (e.g., Yujin, Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.), but I really like the biological activity highlighted in this figure. Also, look closely for the presence of turtle barnacles, Chelonibia testudinaria, on its carapace! This figure scales well for people who collect 1:24 and/or 1:32 figures.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Worldwide in tropical and subtropical oceans
Habitat: Adults are usually coastal, including seagrass beds, bays, lagoons, and coral reefs, returning to sandy beaches to lay eggs. Young turtles are pelagic for approximately their first five years of life.
Diet: Young turtles feed on marine invertebrates and fish eggs; adults eat algae and seagrass.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Endangered
Miscellaneous Notes: As this figure highlights, adult females return to sandy beaches to lay their eggs. In most cases, females return to the very beaches they were born on. Eggs hatch at night and the baby turtles make their way to the ocean. Female sea turtles have a high fecundity, which is crucial for survival of the species as many baby turtles do not make it to the ocean as they are eaten by shorebirds and crabs along the way.

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very interesting model and display!

We can not often see Koro Koro

Species: Potos flavus (Schreber, 1774) (kinkajou)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Caboodle! Toys, LLC
Series: Noah's Pals
Year of Release: 2007
Size/Scale: Upright figure 2.5 cm tall. Walking figure 4.0 cm long. Body length roughly 2.5 cm for a scale of approximately 1:16-1:24.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Noah's Pals were a line of animal figures that were first produced by Caboodle! Toys and later by Schleich. They are all approximately in the 1:24 scale and are classified in sub-sets based on abundance in nature (from Common to Endangered). Each species was sold as a male/female pair and were supplied with anthropomorphized names. Each pair of figures came with an information card that included a unique ID code. You could enter these codes at the Noah’s Pals website and it would document which figures you had. Once you collected every figure and entered all the codes, you were mailed a pair of dodos!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central and South America
Habitat: Closed-canopy tropical forests
Diet: Primarily fruit, occasionally insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Kinkajous are nocturnal, arboreal, and frugivorous cousins of the common raccoon. It is believed they evolved their arboreal habits independently. They are active at night and spend the day resting in treeholes or in dense vegetation, hidden from light and would-be predators, such as jaguars and harpy eagles.

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Must haves are that

Wonderful figures and I never knew that they were later produced by Schleich!

Bonnie wrote:

Wonderful figures and I never knew that they were later produced by Schleich!

Yup, Schleich took it over and then ran it into the ground. May have been better if someone else took over...

bmathison1972 wrote:

Bonnie wrote:

Wonderful figures and I never knew that they were later produced by Schleich!

Yup, Schleich took it over and then ran it into the ground. May have been better if someone else took over...

Yes- the figures are really nice! It is such a shame, I'm surprised considering how popular Schleich are, that this managed to happen !