Mathison Museum of Natural History

I want one!!!

I don't think the fringes serves as a bait, except very casually. Their purpose is solely for camouflage. Potential prey have plenty of seaweeds in every rock nearby, is not a tempting spot to go like a worm-lure would be.

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

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: AAA
Series: Insects
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length 5.0 cm for a scale of 1:1.3 for a large female
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our seventh time seeing D. hercules in the Museum. Forty-five figures of this species in my collection (at the time of this writing), and this is the only female! It is one of only a couple females I am aware of (DeAgostini had one as a secret/chase figure in their large collection of 1:1 boxed figures).

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: Like many other dynastine scarab beetles, D. hercules exhibits extreme sexual dimorphism. Only males have cephalic and pronotal horns. The males use their horns for fighting rival males and securing feeding and breeding sites. Females (as shown here today) lack horns.

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An old friend now!

Species: Parus minor Temminck & Schlegel, 1848 (Japanese tit; Oriental tit)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Furuta
Series: Chocoegg Animatales - Birds
Year of Production: 2003
Size/Scale: Wingspan 7.5 cm. Body length 4.5 cm for a scale of 1:2.7-1:3.1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Being one of the original Chocoegg figures, some assembly is required, and the animal is removable from its base. This figure was originally marketed as the great tit (P. major) until the splitting of that species in 2005 (see below). Luckily for collectors of taxa, Papo looks to be releasing a true P. major later this year!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: East Asia (east of the Amur River), Japan
Habitat: Hardwood forests, mixed forests, wooded hillsides, parks, gardens
Diet: Primarily insects and other arthropods in the summer; during fall and winter, the diet is supplemented with berries and seeds
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated (IUCN still treats P. minor within P. major, which it classifies as Least Concern).
Miscellaneous Notes: In 2005, Parus major was split into three species based on geographic, bioacoustic, and molecular studies: the great tit (P. major) which occurs throughout much of the Palearctic east to the Amur River Valley, the Japanese tit (P. minor) which occurs in Asia east of the Amur River, Japan, and the Kuril Islands, and the cinereus tit (P. cinereus) which occurs in southern and Southeast Asia. Parus bokharensis, which historically was treated as a separate species, is now considered a subspecies of P. major. Populations of P. major and P. minor overlap in the Amur River Valley; however, intermingling and natural hybridization appears to be a rare phenomenon.

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beautiful fying model and picture!

I really love this model, the pose is wonderful and it's a great species too!

Nice bird

That wobbegong- and its photo- are lovely!

Species: †Groenlandaspis sp.

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Cadbury
Series: Lost Kingdoms Series A
Year of Production: 2000
Size/Scale: Body length 7.0 cm for a scale of 1:1.1-1:14 (scale species-dependent)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Being an original Australian Yowie, assembly is required. I am not sure how many other figures of this genus exist; Groenlandaspis is not made as frequently as its cousin, Dunkleosteus terrelli. COG Ltd. made one, and a large 3D-printed model is available by Paleozoo.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Late Devonian, worldwide
Habitat: Presumably benthic along the coastal margins of freshwater lakes and rivers
Diet: Presumably freshwater invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [Prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Based on the structure of its jaw, Groenlandaspis was believed to have been a benthic predator of freshwater invertebrates. The presence of tooth plates in the form of infragnathals and supergnathals suggested it was adapted for crushing hard-shelled invertebrates, such as mollusks and crustaceans.

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interesting species and beautiful photo but toon-like model!

Nice fish

Species: Odontolabis eremicola Möllenkamp, 1905

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series: Mushi King - standard series, small
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Length (including mandibles) 4.8 cm for a scale of roughly 1:1.25
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was marketed as Odontolabis cypri, which is now considered a synonym of O. eremicola. It appears to have been sculpted after a female or minor male (which could have something to do with its taxonomic confusion, see below), hence the scale above is calculated based on the lower end of the range. I have one other figure of this species, also by Sega.
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: Borneo
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed in rotting wood; adults feed on tree sap
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: I had difficulty researching information on this species. Some of the biological information above is inferred from other members of the genus. This species has a confusing nomenclatural history. In addition to its current placement as a synonym of O. eremicola, O. cypri has also been considered a subspecies of O. sommeri.

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Beautiful model and display!

Species: Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, 1758 (seven-spotted lady beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Papo
Series: Wild Animals
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length 2.8 cm for a scale of 4.3:1-3.5:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the third time we've seen C. septempunctata in the Museum; it's probably the most commonly made species of beetle not in the Scarabaeoidea. When seen from above, this figure is probably a bit elongate for C. septempunctata, which has a subspherical shape. Still, it's nice to see major companies outside of Japan making insect figures regularly!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Native to the Palearctic; introduced to North America and southern Africa
Habitat: Forests, grasslands, marshes, deserts, agricultural fields, disturbed areas, parks, and gardens
Diet: Soft-bodied insects, especially aphids and scale insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: The bright color of C. septempunctata functions as aposematic coloration. The lady beetle has several toxic N-oxides and alkaloids that can be exuded from glands in the femoral-tibial juncture.

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Beautiful model and picture!

Species: Panulirus interruptus (Randall, 1840) (California spiny lobster, Mexican spiny lobster)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Incredible Creatures
Year of Production: 2018
Size/Scale: Total figure length 34 cm. Body length (excluding appendages) 16.5 cm for a scale of 1:1.8-1:3.6
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Safari Ltd. only marketed this toy as a spiny lobster; the designation of P. interruptus is my own based on morphology, color, and Safari's hinting during the product's reveal it is from North America.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: West Coast of North America, from San Luis Obispo Bay, California to southern Mexico, including the Sea of Cortés
Habitat: Benthic, coastal; usually in rocky areas at depths of 0-150 meters (usually around 65 meters)
Diet: Benthic invertebrates, carrion, algae, seagrass, detritus
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Panulirus interruptus is an important commercial species for southern California. Since 1916, annual commercial landings ranged between 90 and 270 metric tons.

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Beautiful model and wonderful display!

A beautiful and huge model!

Species: Trigonophorus rothschildi Fairmaire, 1891

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Adventure Planet
Series: Insects
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (including cephalic horn) 6.3 cm for a scale of 1.8:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Thig figure came in a polybag set of otherwise 'generic bugs' but I retained it since it appears to have been influenced by a recognizable species (and unique one at that). The purple color suggests it may have been modeled after the Taiwanese subspecies, T. r. varians.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeast Asia (China, Taiwan)
Habitat: Broadleaf forests
Diet: Unknown; larvae presumably breed in decaying organic material, such as detritus in tree holes or leaf litter. Adults are attracted to overripe fruit and sap flows.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: I had trouble researching information on the biology, habitat, and diet of this species. Some of the information above is inferred from related goliathine scarabs.

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