Lovely Salamanders

[bmathison1972]

                                                       Bandai, Great Animal Kaiser Japanese Giant Salamander

Glad you were able to acquire it; sorry I could not have been more help.

[sbell]

Some of the Bandai animal Kaiser figurines are very nice, but not all

I have several. You are correct, some are really nice, some are...less so. Many of their fish are decent at least!

As for other salamanders:

K&M International (as stated on the bellies) from the Atlanta zoo! These are obviously old stock...I should have bought at least one of each, but didn't (same moulds, different paint, like usual). But they did come with tags, with names and everything!

Red eft phase of green newt:


Red salamander:


Blue-spotted newt:

[widukind]

congrats

[postsaurischian]

Glad you were able to acquire it; sorry I could not have been more help.

I still would not be aware of its existence without your hint .
Now there are 13 different figures in my Giant Salamander collection.

[stemturtle]

Sbell posted photos of 3 K&M salamanders sold at the Atlanta Zoo (see reply # 84 above). Collectible Wildlife Gifts is offering similar figures.


Red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus, (K&M Intl.), length about 6.0 inches or 15.3 cm. ID is speculative. The year is not printed, so we can date it 2017.

The same mold, SZ16L2, was used for the blue-spotted salamander, Ambystoma laterale, which I purchased too. The mold is more accurate for the blue-spotted, which is a mole salamander, family Ambystomatidae, than for the red-backed, a lungless salamander, family Plethodontidae, which should have a much more slender body. Species ID is not marked for either figure, just the word salamander.

I passed on buying a spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, which is probably cast from the mold used for the red salamander as shown in Sbell's photo. I already own a spotted by Play Visions. My collecting discipline targets examples of different species, as display shelves get more crowded.

[stemturtle]

Common mudpuppy, Necturus maculosus (Play Visions)

After several years of searching for a Play Visions mudpuppy, I was thrilled to find this rare figure on eBay. It is not as realistic as the larger model by Safari . The PV mudpuppy completes the set.


Salamanders, set of 6, (Play Visions) 1995
1. Northern red salamander, Pseudotriton ruber
2. Spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum
3. Long-toed salamander, Ambystoma macrodactylum
4. Marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum
5. Long-tailed salamander, Eurycea longicauda
6. Common mudpuppy, Necturus maculosus

[sbell]

Sbell posted photos of 3 K&M salamanders sold at the Atlanta Zoo (see reply # 84 above). Collectible Wildlife Gifts is offering similar figures.


Red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus, (K&M Intl.), length about 6.0 inches or 15.3 cm. ID is speculative. The year is not printed, so we can date it 2017.

The same mold, SZ16L2, was used for the blue-spotted salamander, Ambystoma laterale, which I purchased too. The mold is more accurate for the blue-spotted, which is a mole salamander, family Ambystomatidae, than for the red-backed, a lungless salamander, family Plethodontidae, which should have a much more slender body. Species ID is not marked for either figure, just the word salamander.

I passed on buying a spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, which is probably cast from the mold used for the red salamander as shown in Sbell's photo. I already own a spotted by Play Visions. My collecting discipline targets examples of different species, as display shelves get more crowded.

Here's the link for the blue-spotted! http://collectiblewildlifegifts.com/store/Item/F917B57

IUnterestingly, mine came with tags that specifically named the species...wonder why yours didn't?

[stemturtle]

Thanks for the link, sbell. We would have to ask Collectible Wildlife Gifts why tags were not supplied.
The brand Wild Republic was listed, while K&M is marked on the figures.

[sbell]

Thanks for the link, sbell. We would have to ask Collectible Wildlife Gifts why tags were not supplied.
The brand Wild Republic was listed, while K&M is marked on the figures.

They are definitely older K&M models--around 1999. Before they rebranded everything to Wild Republic (which started out as just their plush line for along time). I think I have the tags, it might have a date. but I'd need to dig them out.

[sbell]

So fun follow up...I was at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria BC, and guess what they had? Some of the salamanders! I picked up the Red-Backed salamander myself (the tag--yes, it has one--says Red-Striped salamander). My son picked up the larger Tiger salamander. The only one we are missing is the larger Marbled (it is the same mold as the tiger, but with green on it).

They had lots of the small orange spotted ones, and appear to have ran out of tigers when we bought ours!

[stemturtle]

So fun follow up...I was at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria BC, and guess what they had? Some of the salamanders! I picked up the Red-Backed salamander myself (the tag--yes, it has one--says Red-Striped salamander). My son picked up the larger Tiger salamander. The only one we are missing is the larger Marbled (it is the same mold as the tiger, but with green on it).

They had lots of the small orange spotted ones, and appear to have ran out of tigers when we bought ours!

Sounds like you had a good time. I have never heard of a red-backed called a red striped, but that is why we have scientific names.

Several years ago I visited the museum. I thought the admission price was too steep until I saw the replica of the historical monument with the inscription
"Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22d July 1793," which made the visit worth it.

[sbell]

So fun follow up...I was at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria BC, and guess what they had? Some of the salamanders! I picked up the Red-Backed salamander myself (the tag--yes, it has one--says Red-Striped salamander). My son picked up the larger Tiger salamander. The only one we are missing is the larger Marbled (it is the same mold as the tiger, but with green on it).

They had lots of the small orange spotted ones, and appear to have ran out of tigers when we bought ours!

Sounds like you had a good time. I have never heard of a red-backed called a red striped, but that is why we have scientific names.

Several years ago I visited the museum. I thought the admission price was too steep until I saw the replica of the historical monument with the inscription
"Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22d July 1793," which made the visit worth it.

Yeah, it is pricey. But it was raining a lot, and we had nothing else to do (indoors) so thought we'd take a look. It's very well done! Lots of fish stuff...almost entirely marine. I've never known a place to ignore it's freshwater habitats so thoroughly (unless salmon are involved...).

As for the salamander name--I found the same thing--no one refers to it as red-striped.

Red-Backed:


Spotted (sorry, not tiger...):

[PeGe]

Brilliant topic, fantastic animals. One of the reasons i collect animal figurines. Here's the biggest part of my urodele collection. I really like that Notophthalmus red eft figurine shown in a post above (stilcraft or something?). And i like to get the original PV spotted salamander and long-toed salamander one day. Those KM are not my cup of tea, a comic ambystoma body doesn't fit for Plethodon.
.
Yesterday, i found the best fire salamander figurine ever on ebay, and someone bid me out,..i didn't even have the chance to find out what brand it was,...Maybe even someone who reads and/or writes here caught it,..argh:D

[stemturtle]

PeGe thank you for sharing the group shot of your colorful salamander collection.


Here is a picture of the Skilcraft newt from the old Dinosaur Toy Forum, Version 1, showing that the tiny model is hard to paint.
Wish you luck finding the missing figures.

[bmathison1972]

What an amazing collection of salamanders, PeGe! Been following this forum for a while and I hadn't realized there were so many others!

[sbell]

There are really lots of salamander models...so many are kind of generic though, and still miss much of their diversity.

But sometimes there are weird little sets that really do well!

Like these ones from a COG set called "Cool Reptiles":



Kind of indistinct, but nifty (and small).

But the same set came wtih two even more unusual animals--a couple of (probably) caecillians!



(not exactly Kaiyodo-level...but for a weird, cheap set it was a treat to find these in a reptiles & amphibians set. That didn't include any frogs or turtles!).

[stemturtle]

We include the caecilians on the salamander thread because the two figures from COG are the only examples of extant apodans. My set is called Itsty Bitsy Bucket of Reptiles. Thanks to sbell for posting the photos. Let's mention an extinct species of Gymnophiona too.


Eocaecilia micropodia (†) (Shapeways)

Eocaecilia, from the Jurassic of Arizona, is available on Shapeways . It has some features that are lacking in the caecilians from COG.
The snout is pointed, there is the hint of a mouth, and there is the suggestion of tentacles between the eyes and nostrils.

[stargatedalek]

I have that and a complementary marine set, I had never known the name or brand before.

Unfortunately I've lost most of them since then, but there were some very interesting choices in both sets. I don't actually remember that yellow spotted salamander at all.

The salamanders don't give a good reference for just how detailed these tiny little things are.

[bmathison1972]

We include the caecilians on the salamander thread because the two figures from COG are the only examples of extant apodans. My set is called Itsty Bitsy Bucket of Reptiles. Thanks to sbell for posting the photos. Let's mention an extinct species of Gymnophiona too.

Eocaecilia micropodia (†) (Shapeways)

Eocaecilia, from the Jurassic of Arizona, is available on Shapeways . It has some features that are lacking in the caecilians from COG.
The snout is pointed, there is the hint of a mouth, and there is the suggestion of tentacles between the eyes and nostrils.

Is that the same series as K&M's Itsy Bitsy Bucket of... series? I ask because they have an insect bucket I have seen but not yet pursued.

[sbell]

We include the caecilians on the salamander thread because the two figures from COG are the only examples of extant apodans. My set is called Itsty Bitsy Bucket of Reptiles. Thanks to sbell for posting the photos. Let's mention an extinct species of Gymnophiona too.

Eocaecilia micropodia (†) (Shapeways)

Eocaecilia, from the Jurassic of Arizona, is available on Shapeways . It has some features that are lacking in the caecilians from COG.
The snout is pointed, there is the hint of a mouth, and there is the suggestion of tentacles between the eyes and nostrils.

Is that the same series as K&M's Itsy Bitsy Bucket of... series? I ask because they have an insect bucket I have seen but not yet pursued.

I've had several of the COG buckets (bought at a dollar store) and itsy buckets; they use the same buckets, but generally not he same figures.

And yes, the marine animals were also pretty unique--as were the dinosaurs (Montanoceratops!). But I don't have most of them anymore...

Also, I do have the Eocaecilia as well, but I figured someone would have a painted one!