Mathison Museum of Natural History

Beautiful figure and dioarama

wonderful figure and picture!

Species: Lissodelphis peronii (Lacépède, 1804) (southern right whale dolphin)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Dolphins TOOB
Year of Release: 2019
Size/Scale: Body length 8.7 cm for a scale of 1:23-1:34
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The 2019 Dolphins TOOB by Safari is a great way to get incredible figures of dolphin species, several rare and unique.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Circumpolar in the Southern Hemisphere, in temperate to subantarctic oceans
Habitat: Pelagic, at an average depth of 200 meters
Diet: mesopelagic fish and squid
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Lissodelphis peronii is usually gregrious, and often occurs in pods with anywhere from 10 to nearly 1000 individuals (average about 210). Pods are often mixed with other cetacean species, including common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), pilot whales (Globicephala species), common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), and hourglass dolphins (Lagenorhynchus crugiger).

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A phantastic figure

.. that I didn't know!

Species: Myotis lucifugus (LeConte in McMurtrie, 1831) (little brown bat)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Great Lakes TOOB
Year of Release: 2020
Size/Scale: Wingspan 8.0 cm. Body length 2.3 cm for a scale of 1:3.5-1:4.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Bat figures are rarely marketed to the species level. This is probably the best representative of M. lucifugus, especially at this small size.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Much of North America except for parts of the Southwest, Midwest, and extreme Southeast.
Habitat: Forests and forest edges, often in riparian habitats. Roosts in tree hollows, wood piles, rock piles, caves, and manmade structures during the day; hibernates in caves and mines.
Diet: Insects and other arthropods
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Endangered
Miscellaneous Notes: This widespread species has experienced severe population declines in the last couple decades, especially in the Northeast, due to white-nose syndrome caused by the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans. It is believed this fungus was introduced to America from Europe, although it doesn't appear to be pathogenic in European bats.

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Wonderful picture!

Nice picture of a flying figure. I find them rather hard to pose in my collection, so I might steal the idea of a bat flying with a little help

A nice bat

Species: Pagurus filholi (De Man, 1887)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.
Series: Friends of the Water
Year of Release: 2019
Size/Scale: Figure width 5.5 cm. Carapace shield length 0.8 cm for a scale of approximately 1.8:1-1.6:1 (based on holotypes of both P. filholi and P. geminus, see below)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure comes in two main pieces: 1) the entire body of the crab itself and 2) its gastropod shell. The collector must place the crab into its shell (and it is a very snug fit, indeed). This is probably the only figure that shows a detailed sculpt of the entire body of a hermit crab! In addition, the claws also to be attached. Takara is scheduled to release another version of this figure in 2021 for the third installment of the Friends of Water collections, but I am not sure yet if it represents the same species.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Japan
Habitat: Intertidal zone, usually in rocky areas
Diet: Scavengers, especially on algae
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: I had difficulty researching information on this species as presently delineated. Past records of P. samuelis from Japan however refer to P. filholi, as the former is considered restricted to the West Coast of North America. In 1976, McLaughlin described P. geminus from Japan, which is now placed in synonymy with P. filholi. Given these taxonomic updates, the P. samuelis figure produced by Yujin should be considered P. filholi as well, since the set in which it was released focused on the Japanese fauna.

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Very interesting and unique model!

A nice figure

.. and a nice picture!

It is a very beautiful pic of a wonderful model. I will have to spend more money because of you Blaine

Kikimalou wrote:

It is a very beautiful pic of a wonderful model. I will have to spend more money because of you Blaine  

Ha!

Next up:

Species: Mydaus javanensis (Desmarest, 1820) (Sunda stink badger)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Arboreum Artwork
Series: 1:10 Animals
Year of Release: 2019
Size/Scale: Body length 5.5 cm for a scale of about 1:6.7-1:10
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: This is a resin figure made by forum member Panji Zulkaisar out of Indonesia. Most figures in the collection are around 1:10 in scale.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Java, Sumatra, Borneo, northern Natuna Islands
Habitat: Primary and secondary forests, forest edges, floodplains
Diet: Earthworms, insects, eggs, carrion, plant material
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Mydaus javanensis gets its common name 'stink badger' from its well-developed scent gland. When threatened, it can emit a pungent, milky-green, foul-smelling secretion, and it can shoot it with some accuracy up to about 15 cm! The secretion is nauseating and damaging to a would-be predator; dogs have been asphyxiated by the fluid and humans have fainted from the stench!

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A beauty, but wrong material for me.

I didn(t know this species!

Beautiful, so unusual- the forum member must be very talented! I love how you have a range of materials, it's so nice to see a resin model in here because they are as amazing as plastic ones! Interesting to read too- but poor dogs! I never knew it was this dangerous!

Lovely last few models here, especially the bat. This latest one though, a real dream. In a real life smelly sense...

This one is really... but really... really cruel to me

To tell the story, I was planning to make one myself, I began the job with Anna's help and I never finished it... When I decided to finish the job, this "iudyf neri ufybeziurny reiu"  of Panji Zulkaisar produced this beauty

Now I'm waiting for a "discount day" to grab one

Lucky you

It's a wonderful model!

Wonderful model of a lesser known mammal

I love the badger. Smells really good. I don't know why it is so hard to see these species in toy shape. Well, I think I know but I wished tese less spectacular species could join the bath of diversity of the last years.

Species: Osmylops pallidus Tillyard in Withycombe, 1926 (ruby-eyed lacewing)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Series: Yowies Series 4
Year of Release: 1999
Size/Scale: Total figure length 8.5 cm. Body length (excluding wings and antennae) 4.0 cm. I cannot find any measurements of this species to calculate scale. A related species, O. sejunctus, has a forewing length of 2.34 cm; if the two species are comparable in size, the scale would calculate to 1.7:1 (roughly 2:1).
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The accompanying paperwork for this figure is mis-labeled as Nymphes myrmeleonides (although the image shows the correct species). Like other original Australian Yowies, assembly is required. To my knowledge, this is only one of two neuropterans made by major figure companies, the other being a larva of the myrmeleontid Hagenomyia micans by Kaiyodo in their Choco Q Animatales collection.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Eastern Australia
Habitat: Eucalyptus forests
Diet: Larvae are predaceous on other insects and arachnids; adults presumably as well
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: I had trouble researching information on this species, including the full extent of its geographic distribution and habitat within Australia and feeding habits of adults. The presumed carnivorous habits of the adult are based on other members of the family Nymphidae. Larvae apparently like to hangout on the underside of Eucalyptus leaves and act as ambush predators on passer-by insects and spiders.

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