Mathison Museum of Natural History

Never seen this figure before

widukind wrote:

Never seen this figure before

It's fairly new; I believe it was released in July of this year, so I've only had it for a few months.

bmathison1972 wrote:

widukind wrote:

Never seen this figure before

It's fairly new; I believe it was released in July of this year, so I've only had it for a few months.

Ah thanks

Very nice Mine is still in Japan but not for long.

Species: Cercopithecus diana (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name(s): Diana monkey

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: CollectA
Series: Wildlife
Year of Production: 2014
Size/Scale: Total figure length 9.5 cm. Body length (exclusive of tail) 5.0 cm for a scale of 1:8-1:11
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The only other figure of this species I am aware of is a small model by Play Visions from 1998.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: West Africa (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire)
Habitat: Primary rainforest, usually in the canopy
Diet: Fruit, flowers, young leaves, invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Endangered
Miscellaneous Notes: Groups of C. diana can consist of anywhere from 15 to 50 individuals. A group usually contains one sexually mature male, his female mates, and their offspring. Females tend to stay within their natal group through adulthood, whereas males disperse at maturity. Like many primate groups, there is a ranking system within groups of D. diana, making members compete for mating and resources. Under ideal conditions, females give birth annually, and typically just one offspring at a time.

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Nice figure

This is a very good model, my sample has the tail bending downwards but I think it was due to the transportations. It is an easy fix anyway. I wished new Schleich aardvark and caracal were at this level.

Great monkey!

Species: Acanthopagrus schlegelii (Bleeker, 1853)
Common name(s): blackhead seabream; Japanese black porgy

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Favorite Co. Ltd.
Series: Aqua Fish
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length 7.5 cm for a scale of 1:6.7
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The fish is removable from its habitat-style base. From what I can tell, the only other PVC figure of this species is also by Favorite, a 'strap' figure which may be the same sculpt as today's.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: West Pacific (Japan, Korean Peninsula, north China, Taiwan)
Habitat: Bays, shallow rocky reefs, brackish waters; at depths of 1-40 meters
Diet: Marine invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Acanthopagrus schlegelii is one of the most commercially valuable fish in Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, China, and Japan. In Japan it is also a very popular game fish. It is considered to have excellent meat quality, can tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions, and exhibits high resistance to disease.

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Species: Megasoma actaeon (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name(s): Actaeon beetle

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series: Mushi King, standard series, large
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (including cephalic horn) 12.0 cm, within scale 1:1 for a large major male.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our third look at M. actaeon in the Museum. Mine came assembled, but it looks like there may be minimal assembly (looks like the front legs, as one piece, are removable). I also have this species in Sega's 'large DX' series. This is another figure I would have rather photographed outside, but a Nearctic winter isn't appropriate for a large, tropical insect :). I did, however, add an 'in-hand' pic (see inset), since this is such a large and impressive figure in the 1:1 scale.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: South America
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed in rotting logs, compost, and rich soil; adults are attracted to overripe fruit and sap flows
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Megasoma actaeon is generally regarded as one of the heaviest, if not the heaviest, beetle. Adult major males can weigh over 150 grams and the larvae over 220 grams!

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Wow, that is a large beetle. It would be interesting to compare it with a very small 1:1 mammal like the Schleich slow loris.

Very impressive species and model!

Species: Cicindela campestris Linnaeus, 1758
Common name(s): green tiger beetle

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Wing Mau
Series: Insects
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length 4.5 cm for a scale of 3.75:1-2.6:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The Wing Mau Insects collection consists of 24 figures representing 23 species of beetles (there are two color variants of Adalia bipunctata). The figures have the Latin name printed on the underside. The figures seem to have been influenced by an Italian poster, Beetles, from 1992, as all the species are represented in that poster (including both variants of A. bipunctata) and have the same Latin names assigned to them (this poster hangs in my home office; I've had it since 1995). Figures in this set were also produced for Play Visions for their Habitat Earth line. Most of the species in this Wing Mau collection are unique, at least as sculpts. The only other figure of today's species I am aware of was made by forum member Jetoar for the Little Treasures of Europe line of Paleo-Creatures.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Europe
Habitat: Heathland, dunes, sandy grassland, moorland, hillsides, roadsides; usually in open areas with dry sandy or chalky soil
Diet: Terrestrial arthropods
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Both adults and larvae of C. campestris are voracious predators. Larvae live in burrows with their heads flush with the ground and are ambush predators of insects and other terrestrial arthropods passing by. Adults are very active, running and darting with short bursts of flight while chasing prey, usually in areas of bright sunlight. Like other tiger beetles, C. campestris is very fast and has been reported at speeds of 60 cm/sec. Their speed makes them challenging for insect collectors to catch!

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never seen before!

Species: Caiman yacare (Daudin, 1802)
Common name(s): yacare caiman; jacare caiman

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Wildlife
Year of Production: 2019
Size/Scale: Body length 15.0 cm for a scale of 1:10-1:14
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Safari Ltd. only marketed this figure as a caiman, mentioning both the genera Caiman and Melanosuchus on their website. When I first got it, I assumed it was a black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) because of the overall darker appearance (although color can change seasonally and during the course of a caiman's lifespan). However, upon further research and discussion with other forum members, we concluded it better represents the spectacled caimain (C. crocodilus) or the yacare caiman (C. yacare). I chose to have mine represent C. yacare given the prominent blotches on the side of the body and jaw, which are more pronounced in adult C. yacare than C. crocodilus. Also, M. niger is the largest member of the Alligatoridae, so one should expect the figure to be larger if Safari intended it to represent that species. Safari Ltd. did specifically release a black caiman in their 2021 South America Animals TOOB, however.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: South America (southern Amazon and Paraguay-Parana Basins)
Habitat: Most freshwater habitats, including flooded forests, wetlands, slow-moving rivers
Diet: General carnivore; prey includes mammals, birds, snakes, turtles, mollusks, aquatic insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Caiman yacare has often been considered a subspecies of the C. crocodilus. Molecular studies show that the C. crocodilus complex consists of four evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) and that the Honduras population of the brown caimain (C. crocodilus fuscus) and C. yacare are unique and separate evolutionary lineages, having diverged from C. crocodilus about 6 mya and are considered geographically and reproductively isolated from C. crocodilus from the Orinoco and Amazon Basins. The Brazilian Shield, which forms most of the northern boundary of C. yacare's distribution, causes the Río Madera constriction, an effective barrier to upstream migration of C. crocodilus from the north. While hybridization is possible at the very limited areas of contact between the two species, there has been no detectable genetic introgression. However, more work is needed to map the boundries of caiman populations and to characterize their phlyogeography; contact zones between populations can prove valuable in resolving taxonomic relationships.

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I know it's the only official Caiman of this size but it leaves me dubious. Something in the proportions seems wrong to me: A head too big, a body too small, a neck too frail for the head. In a pinch he looks more like a baby than an adult.

.. yes I agree he looks a little like a baby. Very interesting explanations!

Kikimalou wrote:

I know it's the only official Caiman of this size but it leaves me dubious. Something in the proportions seems wrong to me: A head too big, a body too small, a neck too frail for the head. In a pinch he looks more like a baby than an adult.

Yes I heard back from someone from Safari and it is a juvenile and most-likely a Yacare caiman.

Species: †Copepteryx hexeris Olson & Hasegawa, 1996

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Dinotales Series 3
Year of Production: 2002
Size/Scale: Total figure height 6.2 cm. Scale difficult to calculate, but using the mandible (lower beak) as a metric (n=1.0 cm), the scale comes to approximately 1:23 for one of the paratypes of C. hexeris.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Assembly is required and part of the bird's feet are part of the base. Kaiyodo only marketed this figure as Copepteryx. Since both known species were described in the same paper, and since both species were endemic to Japan, it could represent either (see below). I chose mine to represent C. hexeris since that species is better represented in the fossil record and it is the type species for the genus.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Late Oligocene of Japan
Habitat: Rocky marine shores
Diet: Fish; possibly also cephalopods
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: In 1996, Olson and Hasegawa described two species of Copepteryx from the Late Oligocene of Japan. The type species, C. hexeris, is known from several fossils collected on the Ainoshima, Kyushu, and Honshu Islands. The second species, C. titan, is known only from a left femur from Ainoshima Island and differs from C. hexeris only in size (being much larger as the species epithet titan suggests).

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I did'nt know this species, beautiful model!

Very nice and very rare to me.