Mathison Museum of Natural History

wonderful model and picture!

I'm not interested in this scale models, but the lizard looks really great!

A must have again

Species: Pocillopora verrucosa (Ellis et Solander, 1786) (rasp coral; cauliflower coral)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Yujin
Series: Corals in Colour
Year of Production: 2005
Size/Scale: Figure 2.5 cm in diameter for a scale of 1:12
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The Yujin corals are small and made out of a limestone-calcium carbonate sandstone, rather than the usual PVC. They make great accessories for other marine wildlife.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-Pacific
Habitat: Coral reefs, at depths of 0-54 meters
Diet: Floating microorganisms that come within reach of their tentacles; also, nutrients derived from photosynthetic dinoflagellates living within the coral's tissues.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Pocillopora verrucosa can reproduce asexually by fragmentation or sexually. In the latter, the hermaphroditic coral releases both male and female gametes into the water column, usually during the new moon in mid-summer (January). In some populations, the corals fertilize the eggs internally and brood the developing larvae.

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Looks like real

I really like these Corals in Color figures you've shown. They look great in your superb diorama.

Thanks everyone!

Next up:

Species: †Harpes sp.

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Paleocasts
Series: Trilobite Cast Collection
Year of Production: 2017
Size/Scale: Body length 5.5 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Paleocasts is a line of prehistoric animals, mainly invertebrates, produced by artist Patrick May and sold on Etsy in the U.S. The figures can usually be purchased finished (as shown here) or unfinished.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Devonian of present-day Africa (especially Morocco)
Habitat: Marine, benthic
Diet: Filter feeder on marine invertebrates and detritus
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: I had difficulty researching information on this genus. Characteristics of harpetid trilobites include the large semicircular brim of the cephalon that reaches back to or beyond the pygidium and the reduction of compound eyes to small tubercles. Harpes may have had poor vision and relied on touch sensations to find food in mud and sand on the ocean floor.

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Strange, very different from usual trilobites!

Looks like the trend of coral reef invertebrates continues...

Species: Stylaster boschmai (Eguchi, 1965) (lace coral)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Yujin
Series: Corals in Colour
Year of Production: 2005
Size/Scale: Colony height 1.7 cm for a scale of approximately 1:18 (see below)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The Yujin corals are small and made out of a limestone-calcium carbonate sandstone, rather than the usual PVC. They make great accessories for other marine wildlife. This is one of two figures in this set that are not true corals, but rather hydrozoans, a group of animals that includes things such as Hydra, tubularians, and the Portuguese man o' war.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-West Pacific (described from Japan)
Habitat: Coral reefs, benthic
Diet: Predaceous on small marine invertebrates that drift within reach of their tentacles.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: I had difficulty researching information on this species. Stylaster boschmai is a colonial Type A hydrozoan described from Japan (but I do not know the full extent of its range). The scale calculated above is based on the genus as a whole (max. size 30 cm tall).

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Beautiful corals.

I want the yujin corals, it is beautiful.

Really superb latest posts!

Thank all!

Next up, 'Hoppy' Monday:

Species: Hyperolius argus Peters, 1854 (Argus reed frog)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Colorata
Series: Tropical Rain Forest Frogs
Year of Production: 2019 (2005)
Size/Scale: Body length 3.7 cm, slightly above 1:1 scale
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: My figure is a 2019 release of a model that originally came out in 2005.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Eastern coastal Africa
Habitat: Riparian areas in dense, humid savanna and grassland
Diet: Invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Hyperolius argus is sexually dimorphic. Females (shown here) are light to golden brown with cream-colored spots; males are solid green to brown and lack cream spots. There is also some clinal variation in color from north to south, and the species may intergrade with other Hyperolius species, causing challenges for morphologic identification.

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Interesting frog

Species: Mikadotrochus hirasei (Pilsbry, 1903) (emperor slit shell)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Choco Q Animatales Series 6
Year of Production: 2002
Size/Scale: Figure length 4.0 cm. Shell diameter 2.5 cm for a scale of 1:2-1:5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Being an original Choco Q Animatales figure, some assembly is required. While this species is currently unique, there is at least one more species of Mikadotrochus available as a toy/figure, M. beyrichii by Epoch.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: West Pacific, from Japan to Philippines
Habitat: Benthic and along shelves, at depths of 150-300 meters
Diet: Sponges, corals, crinoids
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: The life cycle of M. hirasei goes from a planktonic trocophor larva to a juvenile veliger to eventually an adult.

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Interesting model of an interesting species!

Beautiful model, I really enjoy the molluscs.

Species: Prosopocoilus giraffa (Olivier, 1789) (giraffe stag beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Hayakawa Toys
Series: Insects Collection - Special
Years of Production: 2004
Size/Scale: Body length (including mandibles) 6.0 cm for a scale of roughly 1:2 for a maximum-sized major male
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the third time we've seen P. giraffa in the Museum. This collection by Hayakawa Toys features a lot of the common species routinely made by Japanese companies, although the quality is not as good as what we have come to expect from Kaiyodo, Kitan Club, Sega, etc. Some species in the set come in large and small versions, but today's P. giraffa is only represented by this single figure.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeast Asia, from southern India to Indonesia
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed on rotting hardwoods; adults are attracted to sap flows
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A
Miscellaneous Notes: Prosopocoilus giraffa and P. confusius are sometimes placed in the genus Cladognathus, although most authorities still recognize Cladognathus as a subgenus of Prosopocoilus.

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

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series: 'Beetles on Wood'
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (including mandibles) 3.0 cm for a scale of about 1:2.5 for a large major male
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our fourth look at L. maculifemoratus in the Museum. 'Beetles on Wood' is my designation for a set of very small Sega figures that depict the usual scarabaeoid beetles on logs. I don't know much about this set, including the official name of the set, when they came out, or how many figures are in it (I have 15 out of 16 known figures; the one I didn't retain is an anime version of Allomyrina dichotoma, which I believe serves as Sega's mascot).

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 oviposition and do not overwinter as adults.

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