Mathison Museum of Natural History

Lovely fish

Beautiful model and display!

A lovely Papo model!

I love this model. Smaller than I expected when I got it but really nice nontheless.

Species: Pandinoides cavimanus (Pocock, 1888) (Tanzanian red-clawed scorpion)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Bandai
Series: Animal Kaiser
Year of Release: 2009
Size/Scale: Figure length 5.5 cm. Body length (including metastoma) 7.0 cm for a scale of 1:2-1:6
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was originally marketed as Pandinus cavimanus, before the elevation of Pandinoides to the genus level (see below). This is one of only two figures of P. cavimanus I am familiar with, and the only 'emperor' scorpion figures that do not represent Pandinus imperator.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Tanzania
Habitat: Arid Acacia-Commiphora savanna
Diet: Arthropods
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: In 2015, the subgenera of Pandinus (including Pandinoides) were elevated to the genus level. In 2016, Pandinoides was narrowly defined to include three East Africa species characterized by a marked concave depression in the retrodorsal surface of the pedipalp chela manus of the adult male. As presently defined, P. cavimanus is endemic to central Tanzania.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Beautiful model and picture!

Each figure with a very suggestive and different layout. Really pleasant to watch these pictures. Very funny and a wonderful place to your brown rat. Really, how such a common animal is not equally common as a toy figure. I love especially this last scorpion and really an interesting species.

Species: Hippotragus niger variani Thomas, 1916 (giant sable antelope)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Mojö Fun
Series: Wildlife
Year of Release: 2012
Size/Scale: Figure length 11.0 cm. Height at shoulder 7.0 cm for a scale of 1:16.5-1:20
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: While Mojö Fun only made this male figure, CollectA made both male and female figures of this species.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central Angola, between the Cuango and Luando River Valleys
Habitat: Savanna woodlands, edges of grasslands, usually near water
Diet: Grasses, leaves, herbs, usually at specific heights (they tend to favor plants growing on termite mounds)
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Critically Endangered (IUCN website and lists the species H. niger as Least Concern, but the subspecies H. niger variani is Critically Endangered.).
Miscellaneous Notes: Both male and female H. n. variani have horns, but exhibit sexual dimorphism in terms of color. Males (shown here) are black when mature, whereas females are chestnut-brown (except in some southern populations where the females are brown-black when mature).

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Great This is my favorite Giant sable! The more "true to life" I know.

I agree and have it too!

Species: Phacochoerus africanus (Gmelin, 1788) (common warthog)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: PNSO
Series: African Animals
Year of Release: 2018
Size/Scale: Figure length 8.0 cm. Height at should 3.5 cm for a scale of 1:18-1:24
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: When I started by non-arthropod synoptic collection in late 2018, I had a hard time deciding on a warthog figure. I initially went with the 2015 Papo figure, but found it too big. I then went with this PNSO figure, which I liked very much. When Safari Ltd. announced one in 2020 I was tempted to replace the PNSO figure, but then I learned that it, like Papo, was too big for my tastes. In 2021, Schleich released one. I was tempted again to replace the PNSO figure, but finally decided the PNSO figure suits my needs just fine. As it turns out, I did get the 2021 Schleich model, but only because it is advertised on their website as the desert warthog, P. aethiopicus.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Sub-Saharan Africa
Habitat: Open and wooded savannas, grass steppes, semi-deserts
Diet: Grasses, roots, bulbs, berries, fruit, bark of young trees, eggs, insects, carrion; rarely dung
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Phacochoerus africanus lives in family groups called soundings. There can be anywhere of up to 18 members in a sounding. Males will usually leave at age 2 or so, and become solitary or form bachelor groups. Pregnant females will temporarily leave the sounding to give birth alone in a burrow; this helps the young piglets regulate their body temperature.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I enjoy your choice of Mojö Fun for a giant sable antelope. It is a very iconic model and a symbol how sometimes a collecting community can be influencial to brands. Even if it is the biggest coincidence of ever, it is a fact that STS members have chosen this species for Mojö Fun and the year after, not less than 4 sable antelopes from 3 brands were releaased when there was not even a single one among major brands. It is also my favorite even if I acquired recently the CollectA models and I believe the Safari is also finding a way to my collection.
About the warthog, it is good that you believe the PNSO is a good option for your collection. It is a model that screams warthog in every detail. It could be dressed as a zebra and we would easily guess what it is. I am deeply surprised the new Schleich model is identified in their website as a desert warthog. It is not easy to tell a desert from a common warthog but at least the ears of the Schleich figure seem to correspond to the common warthog.

For me, the identification of the Schleich warthog is new, too. Just checked it and yes, Schleich really is using P. aethiopicus as name (side note: the vulture is identified as griffon vulture, as we were discussing the possibility of it being a Himalayan vulture).
Interesting information for me as species collector.
I cannot say if Schleich has used the correct name, as I find the identification very hard - most people don´t even know that there are 2 warthog species.

The PNSO is very lovely, but I have high hopes for the new Mojo

Duck-Anch-Amun wrote:

For me, the identification of the Schleich warthog is new, too. Just checked it and yes, Schleich really is using P. aethiopicus as name (side note: the vulture is identified as griffon vulture, as we were discussing the possibility of it being a Himalayan vulture).
Interesting information for me as species collector.
I cannot say if Schleich has used the correct name, as I find the identification very hard - most people don´t even know that there are 2 warthog species.

The PNSO is very lovely, but I have high hopes for the new Mojo

That's right, I forgot Mojo was releasing one this year too! Seems like a deluge of warthogs all at once in recent years!

bmathison1972 wrote:

Duck-Anch-Amun wrote:

For me, the identification of the Schleich warthog is new, too. Just checked it and yes, Schleich really is using P. aethiopicus as name (side note: the vulture is identified as griffon vulture, as we were discussing the possibility of it being a Himalayan vulture).
Interesting information for me as species collector.
I cannot say if Schleich has used the correct name, as I find the identification very hard - most people don´t even know that there are 2 warthog species.

The PNSO is very lovely, but I have high hopes for the new Mojo

That's right, I forgot Mojo was releasing one this year too! Seems like a deluge of warthogs all at once in recent years!

Since in 2016 The Lion King 2019 Remake was announced, we witnessed, at least, the release of these warthog figures:
2018 Colorata
2019 PNSO
2020 Eikoh, Safari Ltd,
2021 Schleich, Mojö Fun

So many Pumbaas!

I like the PNSO warthog

Good model and picture!

Species: †Vauxia sp.

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Cambrian Life TOOB
Year of Release: 2013
Size/Scale: Figure height 6.0 cm; scale 1:1-2:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: To my knowledge, this extinct species is the only representative of the sponges (Porifera) in toy form (except for those that may show up in diorama-style bases).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Cambrian to Silurian of present-day North America
Habitat: Benthic
Diet: Nutrients extracted from the surrounding water.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Originally classified as a glass sponge, Vauxia is now considered a demosponge (the same group that includes bath sponges).

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Very beautiful picture!

That is a particularly lovely diorama, isn't it?

Thanks all! Next up:

Species: Megasoma actaeon (Linnaeus, 1758) (Actaeon beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series: Mushi King, standard series, small
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Length (including cephalic horn) 5.4 cm, for a scale of 1:2.5 for a major male
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our second look at M. actaeon in the Museum. 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: South America
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed in rotting logs; adults are attracted to overripe fruit and sap flows
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Large scarab beetles whose larvae develop in rotting wood often have long developmental cycles. The total develop time for M. actaeon from oviposition to emergence of the adult is about 2.8 years.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

With these pictures and complete informations, it is surely a joy to visit your Natural History Museum.

Nice again