Category: Arthropods

Snail-eating Ground Beetle (Capsule Q Museum, Japanese Animal Collection 1, Tohoku by Kaiyodo)

The ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles (Carabidae) with more than 40,000 species worldwide. Many species of ground beetles (adults and larvae being predators of many invertebrates, including various pests) are considered beneficial organisms to humans. Carabus blaptoides is a species ground beetles distributed in Russia and Japan having many subspecies. This Kaiyodo figurine was released in …

Japanese Tiger beetle (ChocoQ Animatales series 9 by Kaiyodo)

The Japanese Tiger beetle Cicindela chinensis japonica is a subspecies of Cicindela chinensis, a species of ground beetles native to Asia. The real beetles size can reach 2 cm, the figurine is 3,5 cm (not including the legs and antennae). Kaiyodo released the figurine of this beautiful beetle in their 9th ChocoQ Animatales series line up in 2004. …

Smokybrown Cockroach (Sanitary Insect Pest Exhibition by Kaiyodo)

Today we are reviewing the smokybrown cockroach, Periplaneta fulginosa, by Kaiyodo for the Sanitary Insect Pest Exhibition from 2015. A year later, Kaiyodo would release a nymph of this same species in the Sticky Tack Insect set (see the third image). Like most anthropophilic species, the smokybrown is native to Asia. It is very common …

Cave Dwellers TOOB (Safari Ltd.)

For my next review I thought I would do an overview of the Cave Dwellers TOOB released by Safari Ltd. in 2014. When this set was first released, I was excited because five of the eight figures are arthropods. Unfortunately I have misplaced four of those five, so I recently bought the entire set, which …

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper (Smithsonian Insects by Safari Ltd.)

Review and photos by stargatedalek; edited by bmathison1972 Editor’s note: It gives me pleasure to post the first Blog review by longstanding forum member, stargatedalek. I have a confession to make; I had a sneaky suspicion this would be her first… :-). I actually intentionally have not reviewed it myself because I thought she’d be …

Orange-barred Sulfur (Hidden Kingdom Insects by Safari Ltd.)

A lot of my posts for the Blog to date have been to introduce interesting lines or add some new broad taxa. But, it is time for me to go back to my entomological roots! So today I am reviewing the orange-barred sulfur (Phoebis philea) that was released by Safari Ltd. as part of their …

Pill Scarab (Dango Mushi 04 by Bandai)

Little is known about the biology of this subfamily in the Scarabaeoidea beetle group Ceratocanthinae (Coleoptera: Hybosoridae). A fast part of the known species are pantropical but a few species are known from the temperate forest regions of North America, South Africa and the south-eastern Palaearctic zone. Some of the species are flightless. They are …

Jewel beetle (Insects of Japan Vol. 1 by Yujin)

The only Jewel beetle, made by Yujin. For the ones new to animal figurine collecting; Yujin is an Japanese company that makes next to other types of toys outstanding animal figurines full of detail and always very realistic. They have produced a vast range of insects, fish and frogs, which I personally regard as one …

Red-clawed Crab (Revogeo by Kaiyodo)

This review is one of my walkaround carryovers from the Animal Toy Forum, presenting the red-clawed crab (Chiromantes haematocheir) by Kaiyodo, which was released earlier this year as part of their Revogeo line. I cannot find too much information on the Revogeo line. It appears to be an offshoot from their Revlotech line, which features …

European Stag Beetle (CollectA)

Editor’s note: Time for brontodocus’ next contribution. This time, it is the European stag beetle, Lucanus cervus, by CollectA for their Insects line (which is now called Little Wonders, as it contains several non-arthropods such as reptiles and amphibians). Below is a copy of the original walkaround, which was posted shortly after the figure was …