Mathison Museum of Natural History

interesting to discover!

Species: Dynastes neptunus (Quensel, 1817) (Neptune beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kabaya
Series: World Insect Series 1
Year of Release: 2002
Size/Scale: Body length (including horns) 5.5 cm, for a scale of nearly 1:3 for a large, major male specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our second look at this species in the Museum. The victor on the right, who is about to toss his opponent off the log, is the Kabaya figure. The loser on the left is a knock-off figure by Indian-based (I think) ShanTrip. I bought the ShanTrip figures on eBay, not realizing until I had them in-hand that they are just Kabaya knock-offs. Quality-wise, they are comparable.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed in rotting wood within treeholes of living trees, including Alchornea, Ocotea, and Urera; adults attracted to overripe fruit and sap flows.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Dynastes neptunus is one of the longest beetle species, with major males reaching a lengh of 16.0 cm (including horns). The related D. hercules is longer, however, at 18.8 cm.

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It's a giant!

Species: Bombycilla garrulus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Bohemian waxwing)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Chocoegg Animatales Series 4
Year of Release: 2000
Size/Scale: Figure height 5.0 cm. Body length approximately 6.0 cm for a scale of 1:3-1:4
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Being an original Chocoegg figure, some assembly is required.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Northern Holarctic
Habitat: Coniferous and mixed forests, riparian areas, urban habitats
Diet: Sugary fruits, flying insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Bombycilla garrulus often forms large flocks. Normal flocks are between 50-300 birds, but there are records of flocks of over 3000 individuals. Where their ranges overlap, B. garrulus can often be seen in mixed flocks with other waxwings. In the East Palearctic, flocks of B. garrulus mix with the Japanese waxwing, B. japonica. Here in North America, B. garrulus will mix with the cedar waxwing, B. cedorum. Interestingly, birding this past Sunday in a canyon nearby, I saw a small flock of B. cedorum (I didn't notice B. garrulus among them).

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lovely model and picture!

A nice figure of that bird

Lovely bird!

These unique models are a joy to find! Lucky you having the chance of watching a flock of this group of birds.

Beautiful and intriguing birds! I have an ornamental pear tree in my backyard that small sparrows etc use for food in the winter. We had a whole flock of waxwings come in 2 years ago for a day, pick the tree over, and fly off. Haven't seen them before or since. Wonderful model.

Species: Dendrochirus zebra (Cuvier, 1829) (zebra lionfish; zebra turkeyfish)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Colorata
Series: Coral Reef Fish
Year of Release: 2015
Size/Scale: Body length 4.0 cm for a scale of 1:6.25 for a maximum-sized specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The figure comes attached to a habitat-style base with an acrylic rod, from which it is removeable.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-West Pacific, from the Red Sea to Indonesia and Australia, north to Japan
Habitat: Coral reefs, usually in rocky areas at a depth of 3-80 meters
Diet: Fish, crustaceans
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: While generally a peaceful species, D. zebra has 13 venomous spines along its dorsal fin it uses to defend itself against would-be predators.

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I had a lot of great time catching up on all these gorgeos photos of your gorgeous models !!!

To mention one, the "stink bager" id ever so enormously wonderful

How I wished I could make models, - but as I often say : I can't this and that, but my dogs love me

Wonderful display! .. is it from the same family than Pterois volitans?

Such a beautiful fish, and really interesting information too! And wonderful that it is of a rarer species too!

Such a beauty :)

Species: Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758 (western honey bee)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Bullyland
Series: Small Insects and Spiders Collection
Year of Release: 1998
Size/Scale: Worker (center): body length 2.5 cm, for a scale of 2:1-1.5:1. Drone (upper left): body length 2.7 cm for a scale of 2.5:1-2:1. Queen (upper right): body length 3.4 cm for a scale of 1.8:1-1.5:1.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common (see below)
Miscellaneous Notes: Bee figures are very common; nearly every 'bin-set' of insects has one, and while they are probably intended to represent A. mellifera, few figures are specifically marketed as honey bees. These three Bullyland figures have long been retired, but just recently in late 2020, Papo released a nice one (which, coincidentally, will be my next Blog post this weekend or early next week).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Believed native to Africa and/or Central Asia, with natural spread throughout Africa and Europe; introduced to the Western Hemisphere, Australia, New Zealand, and East Asia by humans for honey production
Habitat: Highly varied; anywhere with suitable hive-building sites and flowers for food source.
Diet: Larvae are fed pollen by the adults; adults eat nectar and pollen
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Data Deficient
Miscellaneous Notes: Honey bees live is large eusocial colonies that are perennial, meaning they persist year after year. The complexities of the colony are too great for a brief description here, but in general a colony consists of a single queen, several drones, and many workers. The queen lays all the eggs for the colony. New, virgin, females will produce male offspring (drones), but she must mate with another male to produce female offspring (workers). The drones' sole purpose is to mate with the queen and produce workers; they do not forage for nectar or pollen. The workers are sterile females that are responsible for maintaining the colony, gathering nectar and pollen, and caring for offspring.

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Three fantastic bees, it's always so nice to see models of insects you see in day to day life!

Species: Pandinus imperator (Koch, 1842) (emperor scorpion)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: K&M International
Series: Wild Republic Venomous Adventures Nature Tube
Year of Release: 1998
Size/Scale: Total figure length 9.7 cm. Body length 10.3 cm for a scale of roughly 1:2
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: Pandinus imperator appears to be the go-to scorpion species for companies to produce. They are even common in sets specializing in venomous creatures, such as this one, which is odd because P. imperator is only mildly venomous to humans. Note that this particular figure is sculpted missing a pair of legs!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: West Africa
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Insects and other arthropods; occasionally small vertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Pandinus imperator is one of the largest species of scorpion, averaging 20 cm in length and can weigh more than 28 g. Because of its large size, fearsome appearance, longer lifespan, less-deadly venom, and docile nature, it is very popular in the pet trade.

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interesting explanations but the model is not convincing..

Species: Odontolabis burmeisteri (Hope, 1841)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series: unknown
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length 3.0 cm for a scale of 1:3 for a large specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure comes from an unknown set of miniatures produced by Sega. It was gifted to me by forum member Beetle guy, and I have no idea when it came out or what the set consisted of. I have a couple species in a similar size that are presumably from the same collection. I currently have six specimens of O. burmeisteri and all but one of them were produced by Sega.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: India
Habitat: Broadleaf forests
Diet: Larvae feed in rotting wood; adults feed on tree sap
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: I had a difficult time researching information on this species; some of the information above was extrapolated from other members of the genus.

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very beautiful display!