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.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Kaiyodo is a well known brand in Japan and throughout the world for their often small but highly detailed figures. They do make well known species but where they truly shine is in their unique and obscure species, especially in the Choco Q, Natural Monuments of Japan, Dinotales, and Aquatales lines.
Review and images by stargatedalek; edited by bmathison1972
Editor’s Comment: We are posting this in appreciation of April Fool’s Day. However, please note that fantasy creatures in general will not be accepted for potential Blog reviews, except for fun occasions such as this or after Admin/Editor approval.
The Tsuchinoko is a small pit viper native to southern Japan.
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
Despite its long and interesting history, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) keeps a surprisingly low profile among modern fauna. That may be because of its unexciting lifestyle, which renders the reptile a less sought-after star for modern media. Right in line with that is its rarity in the toy or model world.
For this review, I deep dive for our October scary theme, and talk of blood sucking horrors, Vampires. In the deepest parts of the ocean, where even the sun fears to shine, live creatures of a frightening and ghoulish nature. One of these creatures floats silently through the waters, looking for prey to devour.
Of the various classes of animals, Cephalopoda is among the smartest and most intriguing, the tentacled forms having taken many forms over the millennia. Often there are shelled forms, like the ammonites and Nautiloids. Another, coming from the same groups as octopus, are Argonauts, or paper nautiluses, as the shelled females have very brittle shells, where as the males lack shells.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The Zebrasoma tangs are a genus of surgeonfish known for their fins that erect like a sail, a spine at the end of the tail for defense like all other surgeonfishes, and features that make them similar to some butterflyfish species such as a disk shaped body and their long snout.
