Mathison Museum of Natural History

Very beautiful models and vdisplay!

Those are beautiful, and a prime example of how a figure can be cute without being cartonny!

I love this serie

I've never heard of this species before, very interesting and cute! Lovely model for sure.

Species: Cubaris murina Brandt, 1833 (little sea pillbug)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Bandai
Series: Dango Mushi 03 and 04
Year of Production: 2019
Size/Scale: Body length 14.0 cm for a scale of 11.7:1 for a large specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: There is no assembly, but obviously substantial articulation, to allow the figures to be unrolled and rolled back up again. In fact, these gashapon figures serve as their own 'capsules' in Japanese vending machines! The unrolled solid brown figure is the original concept from the third Dango Mushi collection in 2019. The rolled figure with a more detailed color pattern was released in the fourth Dango Mushi collection, also in 2019; this model seems to painted after C. iriomotensis, a Japanese endemic that is now considered conspecific with C. murina.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Pantropical
Habitat: Forests, fields, gardens, and disturbed areas, usually in soil, leaf litter, or under rocks and logs
Diet: Decaying vegetation
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Like other terrestrial isopods, C. murina has become very popular in recent years in terraria. Cubaris murina is raised not only as pet, but also as a food source for reptiles and amphibians. It is a rather easy species to keep, as long as its substrate is deep enough and moist enough. Some exotic color variants of Cubaris species have become popular in the pet trade, earning clever names like 'Rubbery Ducky', 'Amber Ducky', 'Papaya', 'Orange', 'Jupiter', and 'Sabah'. Unfortunately, not all of these exotic varieties are collected under the most ethical conditions.

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Interesting figure again

Species: Allomyrina dichotoma (Linnaeus, 1771) (Japanese rhinoceros beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kitan Club
Series: Nature Techni Colour - Nature of Japan Vol. 2
Year of Production: 2013
Size/Scale: Body length (including horn) 6.0 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our sixth time seeing A. dichotoma in the Museum! In my opinion, this is one of the most accurate models of this species, so if you want a representative of A. dichotoma in your collection, this could be one worth hunting down.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeast Asia, including China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical hardwood forests
Diet: Larvae feed on organic detritus in soil; adults are attracted to sap flows
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Large scarabaeoid beetles spend most of their lives underground as larvae. The developmental cycle for A. dichotoma is roughly a year, from egg to adult. As adults, they live for only about four months and die after mating and oviposition.

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.. an old acquaintance now! :)

 very beautiful model and display!

Other nice Kitan figure.

Species: †Acutiramus sp.

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.
Series: The Great Old Sea 2
Year of Production: 2021
Size/Scale: Total figure length 12.5 cm. Body length (excluding claws) 8.7 cm. Scale species dependent, but would calculate to 1:18-1:29 for some of the largest species in the genus.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Minimal assembly required. This figure was not marketed at the genus or species level; the identification is my own based on claw and telson morphology. The only figure I am aware of specifically marketed as Acutiramus is a model of A. macrophthalmus by Colorata. Interestingly, the two figures of 'Pterygotus' by Kaiyodo also appear to represent Acutiramus.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Late Silurian to Early Devonian of present-day North America, Europe, and Australia
Habitat: Marine, benthic; probably in shallow waters offshore
Diet: Soft-bodied animals, including marine invertebrates and possibly fish
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: For years, Acutiramus was classified as a subgenus of Pterygotus. Separation of the genera can be done as follows: Acutiramus has a straight moveable finger on the chelae (claws) with the terminal tooth at an acute angle relative to the rest of the claw and a paddle-shaped telson (terminal abdominal segment) with a serrated margin and a row of knobs running down its center; Pterygotus has the moveable finger of the chelae curved inwards and a paddle-shaped telson with a smooth margin and dorsal keel running down its center.

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Interesting species even if a little toon looking..

Caracal wrote:

... a little toon looking..

How so? This is exactly how reconstructions of eurypterids typically look

so, maybe a colour effect.. if you think it's an accurate model.. :)

Caracal wrote:

so, maybe a colour effect.. if you think it's an accurate model.. :)

oh the color may not be accurate (we'll never know) but the sculpt is very nice

Species: Triops longicaudatus (LeConte, 1846) (American tadpole shrimp)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Epoch
Series: Living Fossils
Year of Production: 2003
Size/Scale: Body length (including cercopods) 5.3 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Assembly is not required and the figure is removable from its base.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Western and central North America south throughout South America; introduced to Hawaii, Japan, Pacific Islands
Habitat: Alkaline freshwater ephemeral pools
Diet: Algae, freshwater invertebrates, tadpoles, small fry, organic debris; also cannibalistic
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes:Triops longicaudatus lives and breeds in ephemeral pools, and the drying of the water source is essential for their development, as eggs must dry out completely before being submerged in water again to hatch. Egg hatching is often tied with seasonal rains. Eggs hatch shortly after being submerged in water and the first stage larvae (metanauplius) start feeding on other aquatic invertebrates. The time from egg hatching to adult is roughly eight days. After reaching maturity, females lay eggs (usually parthenogenetically). As the water dries up, the adults die, although they can live for nearly 3 months if the water doesn't dry up. After the water does dry up, the eggs remain in the soil in a state of diapause; eggs can remain viable for up to 20 years without being exposed to water.

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Interesting Epoch figure

.. and beautiful picture!

Species: Hexarthrius forsteri (Hope, 1840)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series: Mushi King, standard series, small
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (including mandibles) 4.8 cm for a scale of 1:1.7 for a maximum-sized specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: 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: Central and Southeast Asia
Habitat: Forests
Diet: Larvae breed in white rotting wood; adults are attracted to tree sap
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: There are three subspecies of H. forsteri. The type subspecies, H. f. forsteri is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. Hexarthrius f. nyishi also occurs in northeast India. Hexarthrius f. kiyotamii is known from Myanmar. I had difficulty finding information on the biology of this species; some of the information above is inferred from other members in the genus.

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Very interesting model!

It seemed to me I already had encountererd this guy!

Species: Ailuropoda melanoleuca David, 1869 (giant panda)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Wild Safari Wildlife
Year of Production: 2014
Size/Scale: Figure length 10.0 cm. Height at shoulder 5.2 cm for a scale of 1:11.5-1:17.3
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very common
Miscellaneous Notes: There are no shortage of panda figures to choose from, but in my opinion this is the best or one of the very best among 'standard-sized' figures. The larger counterpart to this figure in the Wildlife Wonders (now Wild Wildlife) line is also very well done; I can't find the WW figure on Safari's site so it might be retired. For smaller figures, the Japanese companies have released some nice figures as well.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central China, primarily Sichuan
Habitat: Montane forests
Diet: Bamboo
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Vulnerable
Miscellaneous Notes: Despite being a herbivorous animal, A. melanoleuca still has the alimentary canal like that of a typical carnivore and lacks genes and enzymes needed for cellulose digestion. It is able to digest cellulose with the aid of bacteria acquired from the mother's feces. The gut flora of nursing pandas consists heavily of bacteria such as Enterobacter, Escherichia, and Lactobacillus, bacteria that are common among carnivores and necessary for digesting the mother's milk. As the young pandas shift to a plant-based diet, their gut flora also changes. At about two years of age, the predominate bacterial populations in the gut of the panda include organisms such as Clostridium and Turicibacter, which possess enymes necessary for cellulose metabolism.

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I lovely panda, the sculptor definitely put lots of effort into the fur texture!