The Malayan jungle nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata) is a large phasmid (stick insect) endemic to the Malay Peninsula in Thailand, Singapore, Sumatra, and Borneo. It is sexually dimorphic, with the smaller males being 9-13 cm long and the larger females 14-17 cm long, with reports of some females reaching 25 cm in length.
Brand: Bandai/Bandai Spirits
Mini Crustaceans (Diversity of Life on Earth by Bandai)
5 (3 votes)
In early 2024, Bandai announced a set of seven miniature crustaceans in their ever-growing Diversity of Life on Earth line. I was must admit, I had mixed emotions for this set. Two of the figures I really wanted! For one of them, I go either way. And for the remaining four, I didn’t need or really want any of them.
Mini Sharks (Diversity of Life on Earth by Bandai)
4.8 (5 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
As previously mentioned, 2023 has been a great year for cartilaginous fish fans with, many figures from big and small companies alike. Today, we will be taking a look at the Bandai’s Mini Sharks collection which is part of their Diversity of Life on Earth series.
Pill Scarab (Dango Mushi 04 by Bandai)
5 (2 votes)
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.
Red-streaked Box Crab (Dango Mushi 06 by Bandai)
5 (3 votes)
Calappa lophos, commonly known as the red-streaked box crab or the common box crab, is a species of box crab (Calappidae) endemic to the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean, including Andaman Sea and the waters around Taiwan, Japan, and Australia. For years, this species has been widely ignored by most manufacturers, with only three examples by Kaiyodo in 2003 (Kurosio Komekko), 2013 (Capsule Q Museum), and 2018 (Aquatales).
Rubber Ducky Isopod (Dango Mushi 08 by Bandai)
5 (2 votes)
Rubber Ducky is a common name given to a species of Cubaris that was discovered in limestone caves in Thailand in 2017. To my knowledge, the species is still undescribed (I propose C. erniei). Despite this, it is becoming very popular in the hobby of rearing isopods (honestly, until I investigated this figure before buying it, I had no idea isopods were so popular in terraria).
Saddled Bichir (Mini Ancient Fish Series 2 by Bandai) + bonus Elephant-snout fish
5 (4 votes)
More fish! And this time, another of my favorite type of fish! Yes, it’s another bichir, and another saddled bichir Polypterus endlicheri, a species that I discussed quite some time ago (the Colorata figure). Which I suppose means I won’t need to go into too many details about the species, so I’ll be able to discuss the figure more at length–and then discuss the surprise little extra with the figure (spoiled in the title I suppose).
Silver Arowana (Mini Ancient Fish Series 2 by Bandai)
4.4 (5 votes)
The silver arowana Osteoglossum bicirrhosum is a bonytongue fish found in black and whitewater habitats in many waterway basins of South America (except most of the Rio Negro). It is one of two species in the genus, both found in South America and occasionally overlapping in range. The species name comes from the two narrow barbels or cirrhi protruding from its lower jaw.
Southeast Asian Dead Leaf Mantis (Diversity of Life on Earth – Japanese Giant Mantis Vol. 2 by Bandai)
5 (1 votes)
Earlier this year I reviewed a pair of Japanese giant mantids (Tenodera aridifolia) from Bandai’s Diversity of Life on Earth Line. In October of this year, the second volume in the mantid series was released. As the name of the set suggests, there were two more figures of T.
Velez Skate (Animal Kaiser by Bandai)
5 (4 votes)
This post will be discussing an unusual figure from an unusual line–the line is the figures made by Bandai in conjunction with the game Animal Kaiser, and the animal is a Velez’ ray or Velez skate, Rostroraja velezi (Chirichigno, 1973). First off, ray or skate? Well, even Fishbase refers to it as a ‘ray’, but the genus Raja refers to the skates, which are a type of ray.
Woodpecker Finch (Nature Zone: Galapagos by Bandai)
5 (2 votes)
It has been quiet on the Blog, so I thought I would put up a figure that just arrived in the mail today, the woodpecker finch (Camarhynchus pallidus) by Bandai from the Galapagos Nature Zone collection. The Galapagos collection is one of at least two geographically-focused sets in the Nature Zone series (the other I am aware of is for Australia).
Xingu River Ray (Mini Ancient Fish Series 2 by Bandai)
5 (5 votes)
I’m back with a fourth figure in the Mini Ancient Fish series 2 from Bandai. It seems to be, like the first series, the obligatory chondrichthyan in the set of fish representing notable species that have a presumably ‘ancient’ heritage from an evolutionary point of view. Does the figure today represent that?