Mathison Museum of Natural History

Species: Ptilopsis leucotis (Temminck, 1820) (northern white-faced owl)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Capsule Q Museum - Fortune Owl Collection 3
Year of Release: 2017
Size/Scale: Figure height 5.3 cm. Body length approximately 4.5 cm for a scale of 1:5.5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The figure is removeable from its perch, but will not stand without some support. Kaiyodo also made this species for the first Fortune Owl Collection, albeit free-standing without a base.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Equatorial Africa
Habitat: Savannas, thorn scrub, open forest, forest edges and clearings
Diet: Invertebrates, small birds, reptiles, mammals
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Ptilopsis leucotis displays varied responses to potential threats. When confronted with a predator of roughly equal size, it flares its wings as if to appear larger. When confronted with a larger predator, it narrows its bodies and eye slits to attempt to resemble a tree branch (concealing posture).

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Beautiful model and display!

Good figures

Species: Dynastes hercules (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hercules beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: ShanTrip
Series: unknown
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (including horns) 6.0 cm for a scale of 1:1.3-1:3.1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very common
Miscellaneous Notes: The ShanTrip beetles are knockoffs of the beetles from the two World Insect Series by Kabaya; I hadn't realized this until I bought them and had them in-hand. Quality-wise, they are comparable however. I do not have Kabaya's Word Insect Series 2, which contains the D. hercules figure (otherwise I would have shown them both here side-by-side).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Bolivia
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed on rotting wood; adults are attracted to fresh and overripe fruit
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Dynastes hercules is the longest extant species of beetle, with major males reaching 18.8 cm (including the pronotal horn).

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Another unknown maker

Species: Hymenopus coronatus (Olivier, 1792) (orchid mantis)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kabaya
Series: Insect Directory
Year of Release: 2000
Size/Scale: Leaf base 6.7 cm long. Measured along mid-line, body 5.4 cm, which could be within 1:1 for a subadult female.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Like most (of the very few) figures made of this species, this represents a subadult female. This figure has a habitat-style base (as do all the figures in the Insect Directory collection) from which it can be removed. The cards that come with the figures have different years, which makes me wonder if figures in this set were released (or re-released) over time.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeast Asia
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Hymenopus coronatus mimics flowers to ambush its insect prey.

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A very beautiful mantis!

Beautiful species and picture!

Species: Marmota himalayana (Hodgson, 1841) (Himalayan marmot)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Natural History
Series: Naturally Adorkable
Year of Release: 2016
Size/Scale: Figure height 6.0 cm. Body length (including tail) 10.5 cm for a scale of 1:4.5-1:6.3
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The Naturally Adorkable collection is made up of solid-piece resin figures that primarily represent Chinese species (although there is a sloth in the collection).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Himalayan Mountains and Tibetan Plateau of Central Asia and China
Habitat: Alpine meadows, Alpine scrub, grasslands, deserts, short grass steppes
Diet: Plants
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Marmota himalayana digs exceptionally deep burrows, some as deep as 10 meters. The Himalayan marmot is a major prey for the snow leopard, as well as Tibetan wolves, red fox, and various raptors.

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So cute!

Very beautiful model and display!

A must have

Fantastic

Species: Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758) (monarch)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Club Earth
Series: Butterflies to Go
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Wingspan 7.0 cm for a scale of 1:1.2-1:1.5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the third time we have seen D. plexippus in the Museum. Not surprising, considering it is the most commonly-made butterfly at the species level. The Club Earth butterflies are marked with the common name on the underside of the wings. The figure on the left is by Club Earth; the one of the right is from a set by an unknown manufacturer. This set of 'unknown' butterflies consists of 12 species that are nearly identical to those produced by Club Earth. The only real difference is that they lack the common names printed on the underside of the figures. Otherwise, the quality of plastic and paint applications are nearly just as good as the CE figures. It is possible Club Earth was commissioned to make these for another distributor, or Club Earth and another company bought the rights to the same sculpts (or, these figures are just blatant knockoffs of the CE figures, who knows?). Interestingly, the 'unknown' company mixed up two of the paint jobs. If you look at the figures in this picture, the sculpts are not 100% identical. That is because they painted the sculpt for the Union Jack (Delias mysis) as a monarch and vice versa.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, the Azores, Canary Islands, North Africa, Australia, the Philippines, and South Pacific islands; rare stray to the United Kingdom
Habitat: Fields, forests, gardens, disturbed areas
Diet: Larvae feed on milkweeds in the family Apocynaceae, most commonly members of the genus Asclepias; adults take nectar from a variety of flowers
NatureServe Status (at time of posting): Apparently Secure
Miscellaneous Notes: Danaus plexippus is the official State Butterfly/Insect of Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Alabama, Idaho, West Virginia, and Vermont!

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Beautiful Monarchs!

So many special, and I think probably rare, figures in this topic! The orchid manta is especially striking.

Species: Papilio xuthus Linnaeus, 1767 (Asian swallowtail; Chinese yellow swallowtail)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Furuta
Series: Insect Science
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Figure 7.5 cm wide. Wingspan 8.5 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: The Insect Science figures came with five 'main' figures and then each of those had an 'accessory' figure, for a total of 10 animals. The accessory to this P. xuthus was a seven-spotted lady beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) that will be reviewed on its own when the time comes. Today's figure has a very light flocking on the underside of the wings; otherwise a typical PVC model. Minimal assembly (wings) required.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: East Asia, introduced to Hawaii
Habitat: Forests, gardens, parks, citrus orchards
Diet: Larvae feed on plants in the family Rutaceae, including cultivated Citrus; adults are attracted to flowers
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Throughout much of its range, P. xuthus has 4-5 generations a year, with the typical developmental stage from larva through pupa being about 5-7 weeks.

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Very colorful

Wonderful model and picture!

Species: Spheniscus magellanicus (Forster, 1781) (Magellanic penguin)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Colorata
Series: Penguins of the World
Year of Release: 2017 (2003)
Size/Scale: Height 5.5 cm for a scale of 1:11-1:14
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: My figure is the 2017 re-release of a model originally released in 2003.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southern coasts of Chile and Argentina, the Falkland Islands; occasionally migrating north to Brazil or Uruguay.
Habitat: Pelagic, at depths of 0-76.2 meters; returning to shoreline grasslands with shrubby vegetation and rocky cliffs for breeding
Diet: Fish; occasionally also squid, crustaceans, jellyfish
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Spheniscus magellanicus spends most of its life at sea, returning to the land to breed.

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Very beautiful model and clever display!