Mathison Museum of Natural History

OK, thanks to you both, I hadn't reconized that pretty pink ladie! :)

Species: Latrodectus mactans (Fabricius, 1775) (southern black widow)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Club Earth
Series: Spiders to Go
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Legspan 6.5 cm. Body length 2.7 cm for a scale of 2:1 for a larger specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: The Club Earth figures are marked with a common name on the underside. The figure on the left is by Club Earth; the figure on the right is by a set from an unknown manufacturer. This unknown set of spiders consists of 12 species that were all presented in either the Spiders to Go collection by Club Earth or the Habitat Earth: Spiders collection by Play Visions (or both). While the sculpts are not 100% identical to those by either CE or PV, they are also stamped with the common name on the underside, so there is no question where the influence came from (although the species that are shared with CE have much more similar sculpts than those shared only with PV).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Eastern and southeastern USA and the West Indies; introduced to Hawaii.
Habitat: Forests, fields, rodent burrows, disturbed areas, houses, gardens, garages, sheds.
Diet: Small insects and other arthropods
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Latrodectus mactans exhibits sexual dimorphism. Females (as shown in these figures) are much larger than males. The males are less than half the size of the females, have a more slender and ornate abdomen, and enlarged pedipalps (as do the males of many spiders). The males are also harmless, in contrast to the venomous females.

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A Club Earth spider! Very interesting reading, thank you!

I think they are rare :)

Species: Eurystomus orientalis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Oriental dollarbird)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Furuta
Series: Chocoegg Animatales - Birds
Year of Release: 2003
Size/Scale: Figure height 4.5 cm. Wingspan 6.5 cm. Body length 5.0 cm for a scale of 1:6.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Assembly is required and the bird is removable from the acrylic rod that connects it to the base.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeast Asia, southern Japan, eastern Australia
Habitat: Forests, Open woodlands, roadsides, agricultural fields
Diet: Insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Eurystomus orientalis is an cousin of the kingfishers. The forage for prey by 'hawking' large flyng insects from high exposed perches, especially at dawn and dusk and after rains.

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Such a beautiful bird!

Some species are really surprising to see them replicated. I didn't know they were closely related with kingfishers. Beautiful photo.

A interesting bird figure

Wonderful model.

Species: Scarabaeus typhon (Fischer von Waldheim, 1823)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Souvenirs Entomologiques
Year of Release: 2005
Size/Scale: Bottlecap base 3.0 cm in diameter. Body length of beetle 2.0 cm for a scale of 1:1.25
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The figure on the left shows a beetle rolling a ball of dung; the figure on the right shows the female guarding the brood ball. Figures are not removable from their bases.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southern Palearctic, from Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula to East Russia and the Korean Peninsula
Habitat: Open habitats, usually in sandy areas and on dunes
Diet: Developing larvae feed on dung balls provisioned by parent beetles; adults feed on dung
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Scarabaeus typhon, like other 'dung-rollers', removes a piece of dung and rolls it to a new location away from competition (figure on the left). Depending on the species, this is often performed by a male-female pair. The dung ball is buried with a single egg that is placed in a hollow chamber in the narrow end (figure on the right); the dung ball will nourish the developing larva. Ancient Egyptians likened the dung beetle pushing a ball of dung across the dunes to their sun god Ra pushing the sun across the sky.

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Sometimes I try to remember which scarabs I used to see in very big numbers in my homeland. This one ocurs there and the female looks a lot like those but there are so many similar species that it is hard to tell when these memories are so deep. The real animals looks like made of plastic actually.

Roger wrote:

Sometimes I try to remember which scarabs I used to see in very big numbers in my homeland. This one ocurs there and the female looks a lot like those but there are so many similar species that it is hard to tell when these memories are so deep. The real animals looks like made of plastic actually.

There are several species of Scarabaeus in the Mediterranean area and northern Africa, so you may have seen this species, or any one of a few others (I haven't studied dung beetles for a while, so I don't remember the geographic limitations of the various species).

bmathison1972 wrote:

Roger wrote:

Sometimes I try to remember which scarabs I used to see in very big numbers in my homeland. This one ocurs there and the female looks a lot like those but there are so many similar species that it is hard to tell when these memories are so deep. The real animals looks like made of plastic actually.

There are several species of Scarabaeus in the Mediterranean area and northern Africa, so you may have seen this species, or any one of a few others (I haven't studied dung beetles for a while, so I don't remember the geographic limitations of the various species).

Yes, it will be almost impossible to tell but I will try to find out now that your figures revived my memory.

Species: Dryocopus pileatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (pileated woodpecker)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Backyard Birds TOOB
Year of Release: 2013
Size/Scale: Figure length 5.5 cm. Body length difficult to measure, but roughly 7.5 cm for a scale of 1:5.3-1:6.5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare to very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The Backyard Birds TOOB offers a chance to get some unique figures of small North American birds!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Eastern North America, across Canada to the Pacific Northwest, and along Pacific Coast
Habitat: Mature deciduous, mixed deciduous-coniferous, and coniferous forests, second-growth and fragmented woodlots
Diet: Insects, predominately carpenter ants; also fruits, nuts
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Dryocopus pileatus nests in cavities in dead trees, or occasionally the dead branch of a live tree or an electrical pole. They forage for insects in dead wood, both in standing and felled trees. Carpenter ants make up roughly 60% of their diet, but they will eat other insects in wood, such as beetle larvae, as well as berries and nuts.

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A figure from one of the best toobs ever

Wonderful figure from a wonderful Toob!

Species: Lucanus maculifemoratus Motschulsky, 1861 (Miyama stag beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Coca Cola
Series: unknown
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Base 3.5 cm in diameter. Body length (including mandibles) 5.0 cm, within 1:1 scale for a small specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our second look at L. maculifemoratus in the Museum. I don't know much about this particular set. It was marketed and produced by Coca Cola, but I do not know who actually made the figures (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S., Bandai, and Sega are all possibilities). There are six species in the set that represent typical scarabaeoids made by Japanese companies, but they are relatively good quality. One side of the base has 'Coca Cola' and the other side has the Japanese name of the insect; the figures are safely removable from the base.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Northeast Asia, including China, Taiwan, Korean Peninsula, eastern Russia, and Japan
Habitat: Forests
Diet: Larvae feed in rotting wood and detritus; adults feed on tree sap.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Like with many large scarabaeoid beetles, L. maculifemoratus spends most of its life as a larva in the host substrate. The larval development takes almost 2 years, but adults only live for a few months. Adults die after mating and ovoposition and do not overwinter as adults.

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Wonderful model, and interesting that they were sold by Coca Cola!

Interesting

Species: Papilio machaon Linnaeus, 1758 (Old World swallowtail, larva)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Capsule Q Museum - Caterpillars Vol. 2
Year of Release: 2014
Size/Scale: Figure length 6.8 cm for a scale of 1.5:1-1.1:1 (slightly larger than 1:1 for a large specimen)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: I actually have more figures of the larva of P. machaon than I do the adult! Today's figure was from the second of four (to date) caterpillar collections in the Capsule Q Museum line. Some of the figures in the collections have wires in them and are poseable (not this one, however). For those who find it a challenge to acquire Japanese figures, Papo is slated to produce both an adult and larva of this species later this year.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Holarctic
Habitat: Highly varied, including forests, grasslands, hilltops, Alpine meadows, tundra, wetlands, disturbed areas, gardens
Diet: Larvae feed on primarily on plants in the families Apiaceae (umbillifers), but also Rutaceae (rues); adults take nectar from flowers.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Papilio machaon is probably the most widely distributed species of Papilio. Despite the common name 'Old World' swallowtail, it occurs throughout much of the Holarctic, including much of Europe, Asia (including the Middle East, northern Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia to northern Myanmar, and Japan), and western and northern North America.

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Great, this kaiyodo series is really awesome

Kikimalou wrote:

Great, this kaiyodo series is really awesome

Species: Attacus atlas (Linnaeus, 1758) (Atlas moth)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Capsule Q Museum - Yaeyama
Year of Release: 2014
Size/Scale: Figure width 6.0 cm. Measuring individual features, wingspan comes to 8.7 cm for a scale of just under 1:3.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Assembly as required (and like several from the Yaeyama collection, not always easy).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeast Asia
Habitat: Tropical dry forest, secondary forests, shrubland
Diet: Larvae feed on a variety of plants, including Ailanthus (ailanthus), Cinnamomum (cinnamon), Citrus (citrus), and Magnifera (mango); adults do not feed.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: On average, Attacus atlast is the third largest lepidopteran with regards to wingspan, measuring up to 24 cm. It follows the white witch, Thysania agrippina, (30 cm) and the caesar moth, Attacus caesar (25.5 cm).

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Fantastic figure!