Poecilotheria metallica is a beautiful theraphosid spider from the forests of Andhra Pradesh in India. It goes by several common names, including the Gooty sapphire ornamental tarantula, blue ornamental tarantula, and peacock tarantula, among others. It is an arboreal species, and like many tropical tarantulas, has a very limited geographic distribution, making it prone to population decline.
Classification: Arachnids
Fleas, Lice, and Ticks (Play Visions)
5 (1 votes)
OK folks, here we are. I was finally able to complete this holiest of Holy Grail sets, thanks to STS forum member NMR_Okapi who found me the last missing figure! Most of you who follow me on the Blog and forums know I am a professional parasitologist, so it should be no surprise that this has been one of the most sought-after sets for someone like me.
Emperor Scorpion (Revogeo by Kaiyodo)
5 (2 votes)
I decided to migrate over my Revogeo emperor scorpion walkaround from the forum, to make the Kaiyodo Revogeo collection complete (to date) on the Blog. I edited the language to reflect the current year.
Today is a walkaround of the emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator (Koch, 1842) by Kaiyodo – Revogeo, originally released in 2019, and the first in the Revogeo line.
Black Widow (Little Wonders by CollectA)
4.5 (2 votes)
Finishing up the CollectA 2020 Insects and Spiders collection with the black widow, Latrodectus mactans. Technically, this could represent any of a few widows, but L. mactans is the traditional go-to species. The spider is distributed in the southern and southeastern United States, where it is commonly called the eastern black widow or southern black widow.
Mini Insects and Spiders (Mini Animals Collection by CollectA)
4 (2 votes)
Ever since CollectA started releasing collections of mini dinosaurs based on their larger and standard-size dinosaurs, I knew that if they ever released a set of mini arthropods, it would represent miniature versions of their Insects and Spiders Collection. I was correct. I was not expecting it 2020, but at least I had figured out their plan.
Mexican Red-knee Tarantula (Wild Life by Schleich)
5 (2 votes)
Walkaround of the Mexican red-knee tarantula, Brachypelma smithi (P-Cambridge, 1897) by Schleich, released in 2019. I am going to start with a little taxonomic disclaimer. There is confusion to the identity of spiders referred to as Mexican red-knees, since the description of a cryptic sibling species, B. hamorii Cleton and Verdez, 1997.
Dust Mite (Wolff Marketing Group, Inc.)
5 (1 votes)
Today I am reviewing a rather unusual figure. It is a model of a dust mite sold in a snow globe-type display! The figure was produced by Wolff Marketing Group, Inc. for the allergy medication Zyrtec (which was first manufactured by Pfizer but is now sold by by Johnson & Johnson – I am not sure how old the figure is, so I am not sure which company this figure was produced for).
Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula (Bullyland)
4 (3 votes)
Uninspired for what my next post would be, I decided to use a random number generator on the Arachnids sheet of my Excel collection database and landed on the Brazilian whiteknee tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata) produced by Bullyland in 2017. As Bullyland continued to fade over recent years, they continued to make really good arachnid figures, including a few that are ‘unique’ in toy/figure form.
Emperor Scorpion (Wildlife by Mojö Fun)
3.8 (4 votes)
The emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator, is a large species of scorpion endemic to the rainforests and savanna of Africa. Because of their large size, hardy nature, docile behavior, and relatively mild venom, they are popular in the pet trade (I had them growing up). This species is no stranger to the toy animal industry, and today we are looking at the 2020 rendition of this species by Mojo Fun.
Sydney Funnel-web Spider (Bullyland)
Australia’s Deadliest Nature Tube (Wild Republic by K&M International)
4 (3 votes)
Review of the Australia’s Deadliest Nature Tube, by K&M International for the Wild Republic line. The set was released in 2018. To be honest, I bought this set specifically for the three arthropods, since I am a completist when it comes to arthropods identifiable to the species level. However, now that I am building a Synoptic Collection, I thought I could use the octopus too.
Cave Dwellers TOOB (Safari Ltd.)
4.6 (5 votes)
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 is good because now that I am building a synoptic collection I really wanted the three non-arthropods.
Horseshoe Crab (Incredible Creatures by Safari Ltd)
4.7 (6 votes)
Horseshoe crabs of the order Xiphosura have been swimming the Earth’s oceans for the last 445 million years, and as a veteran writer for the Dinosaur Toy Blog, it only seemed appropriate that my first review for the ATB be on something as old (or older than) the subjects I’m used to writing about.