Mathison Museum of Natural History

beautiful species!

Species: Cephalorhynchus hectori hectori Van Beneden, 1881 (Hector's dolphin)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Stewart Sales Services
Series: NZ Wildlife Figures Pack
Year of Release: 2018
Size/Scale: Figure 7.0 cm long. Measured along spine, body length 8.0 cm for a scale of 1:17-1:22.8
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The only other two figures of this species I am aware of are Cadbury Yowies; this SSS figure is the best of the three. This is a small figure, more in like with something from Play Visions or a Safari TOOB figure (but then again, it is a small species).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Coastal South Island, New Zealand
Habitat: Pelagic, at depths of 0-100 meters (usually 0-50 meters)
Diet: Fish, squid
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Endangered
Miscellaneous Notes: Cephalorhynchus hectori is the only species of dolphin endemic to New Zealand and the World's smallest known dolphin species. The species prefers waters with high turbidity; as such, it uses much simpler echolocation techniques and can only detect prey at half the distance of many other dolphin species. The second subspecies, the Māui dolphin (H. h. maui), is endemic to the west coast of the North Island.

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Fantastic!

I love this figure, and that is why it's on my wishlist as well as the Yowie figure

A species I did'nt know! :)

A must have. My favourite of that set is the Kea :)

This Dolphin is my most wanted model.

widukind wrote:

A must have. My favourite of that set is the Kea :)

Mine is the weta, obviously :)

Megaptera wrote:

This Dolphin is my most wanted model.

the set is still available at MiniZoo!

bmathison1972 wrote:

widukind wrote:

A must have. My favourite of that set is the Kea :)

Mine is the weta, obviously :)

Megaptera wrote:

This Dolphin is my most wanted model.

the set is still available at MiniZoo!

I think i knows

Species: Lamprima adolphinae (Gestro, 1875) (green stag beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series: Mushi King, standard series, small
Year of Release: Unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (including mandibles) 5.0 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The Sega 'small standard series' were 10 sets of 10 figures each, for a total of 100 figures representing roughly 75 species of Lucanidae and dynastine Scarabaeidae. The dates of release are currently unknown to me (c. 2008). The figures were produced in conjunction with Bandai and came with Pokemon-style playing cards. At the time of this writing, I think I have all but two of the species. For a review of the sets, please see here.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: New Guinea
Habitat: Montane rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed in rotting wood of several plants infested with fungi (white rot); adults adults feed on fruit and sap flows.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: As with the recently-reviewed L. aurata, this species is very popular with collectors and breeders. Also like L. aurata, it appears to have a thriving population in nature and does not seem to be negatively affected by collecting.

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Interesting figur again

The production of very realistic replicas could be an alternative way to avoid collecting beautiful species in the wild..

Species: Hebomoia glaucippe (Linnaeus, 1758) (great orange-tip)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: US Toy
Series: Butterfly Collection
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Wingspan 8.2 cm, within scale 1:1 for a small specimen (wingspan 8.0-10.0 cm)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was part of a set I bought at a dollar store years ago, but I have seen them marketed by US Toy. There are a handful of figures of H. glaucippe out there, and they are probably all influenced by the version in the Butterflies to Go collection by Club Earth (which remains the best in my opinion). Today's US Toy figure is probably the least realistic of them, having an incorrect wing shape and a very simplified paint job; however, the color was clearly influenced by the Club Earth figure (or one of its successors) when viewed side-by-side.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: East and Southeast Asia, southern Japan
Habitat: Highly variable, including rainforests, fields, grasslands, arid scrubland, disturbed areas.
Diet: Larval host plants include capers (Capparis, Crateva) and spider plants (Cleome); adults feed on nectar, with a preference for Lantana.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Hemomoia glaucippe exhibits sexual dimorphism. Females have more dark markings on the hindwings and darker regions at the tips of the forewings. Most of the figures to date appear to be based on a female of the Taiwanese subspecies, H. g. formosana (but I am not familiar with all the options).

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very beautiful species and picture!

Caracal wrote:

very beautiful species and picture!

Other figures of this species will be nicer :)

Species: Rhamdiopsis krugi Brockmann et Castro, 2010

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Cave Dwellers TOOB
Year of Release: 2014
Size/Scale: Figure 8.0 cm long. Measured along midline 8.4 cm for a scale of 4.1:1-2.3:1.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Safari Ltd. only marketed this figure as 'catfish'. It could probably represent any one of several species, but after discussions with forum member sbell, we felt R. krugi was the best option.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Poço Encantado, Lapa do Bode, and Natal Caves in Bahia, Brazil
Habitat: Lentic waters formed by the water table inside the caves, at depths of 0-35 meters (usually 0-10 meters)
Diet: Invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Like many other troglogytic species, R. krugi has lost its eyes and is blind.

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I didn(t know this cave catfish!

Caracal wrote:

I didn(t know this cave catfish!

I am happy to be introducing you to several new species haha :)

Species: Brachypelma smithi (Cambridge, 1897) (Mexican red-kneed tarantula)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Blip Toys
Series: Nature's Wonders HD
Year of Release: 2008
Size/Scale: Maximum legspan 13.0 cm. Body length 4.5 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: Brachypelma smithi is probably the most common species of spider in toy form identifiable at the species level (if not tied with or second to the southern black widow, Latrodectus mactans). Blip Toys figures (at least their insects and spiders) are very well done. I don't know much about them; I bought mine at a Target in Atlanta in 2009-2010 or so. The figures came with a code, that when entered in the Blip Toys website would give the user biological information on the species. The eye number and arrangement on this tarantula is not correct, a common mistake made by most companies. This figure is also a bit delicate; notice one spinnerete and the terminal segments on two legs have broken off.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southside of the Balsas River Basin in Guerrero, Mexico
Habitat: Tropical deciduous forests, thornscrub, semi-deserts
Diet: Primarily insects and other arthropods, occasionally small reptiles, amphibians, birds, rodents.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Near Threatened
Miscellaneous Notes: There is confusion to the identity of spiders referred to as Mexican red-knees, since the description of a cryptic sibling species, B. hamorii Cleton et Verdez, 1997. The two species are indistinguishable morphologically and can only be separated by DNA barcoding and strict geographic distribution. In the absence of a figure being specifically ascribed to a given species, I am referring to all figures as the classic B. smithi. Both species are very common in the pet trade.

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Nice picture Blaine.

A bit offtopic, just to say because of you I catched the Kaiyodo one and I’m very happy to did it

Kikimalou wrote:

Nice picture Blaine.

A bit offtopic, just to say because of you I catched the Kaiyodo one and I’m very happy to did it

Good. The Kaiyodo one is probably the best at that size (although the new Mojo one isn't to bad either at that size).

There is a more contrasted CollectA model too.. :)