Lovely Salamanders

[postsaurischian]

      -  AMMONITES MANUFACTURING Andrias davidianus skeleton
      -  Kitan Club / Nature Techni Colour Andrias japonicus, both in about 1:10

[stemturtle]

      -  AMMONITES MANUFACTURING Andrias davidianus skeleton
      ...

Thanks for posting about the skeleton, @postsaurischian. I believe that is the first image of a Chinese salamander figure that I have seen.

[stemturtle]

Hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis (Wild Republic, Wilderness Series 1), length along spine about 4.3 inches or 11.0 cm.

We are lucky to have an example of a hellbender as a plastic toy with the ID marked on the belly. The lasagna skin flaps along the sides aid respiration. The hind feet should each have 5 toes instead of 4. Although the color brown would have been more typical than olive, I'm happy to collect this American giant salamander. It is part of a set of 5 figures, including a bear, coyote, skunk, and deer. The date on the packaging of the polybag is 2019. Available on Amazon and eBay.

[bmathison1972]

Nice @stemturtle I saw the Polybag in Minnesota at a toy store in October of 2018. Had I started my Synoptic Collection then, I would have grabbed it up

[sbell]

I've been hoping to get that hellbender eventually. They're oddly hard to find. And I'd rather not pay the extra postage out of the US!

[bmathison1972]

I just bought the Polyvinyl bag. I'll review the whole bag on the blog once it arrives!

[stemturtle]

Chinese giant salamander, Andrias davidianus (Sbabam, KreatureX Salamanders and Newts), length 8.5 inches or 22 cm.

This squeezable toy, which glows in the dark, is soft rubber filled with beads. An image of the skeleton of this species was posted by @postsaurischian on Reply 133 . With a length up to 180 cm (5.9 feet), the Chinese giant salamander can be several inches longer than its popular Japanese brother, A. japonicus, and nearly 3 times larger than its American cousin, the hellbender.


This salamander was from a set of 12 caudata figures released in 2017 by the Italian company Sbabam. I was lucky to find it on eBay.


Comparison of 3 giant salamanders, family Cryptobranchidae: Chinese, Japanese, and Hellbender.
Andrias davidianus (Sbabam), A. japonicus (Kaiyodo, Kyoto Aquarium), Cryptobranchus alleganiensis (Wild Republic) [bottom right].

[bmathison1972]

...if only the figures looked like the illustrations in the accompanying paper...

[stemturtle]

...if only the figures looked like the illustrations in the accompanying paper...

Yes. Reducing the size by about half may have helped with the lack of detail.
The count of digits on each forelimb should be 4 instead of 5.

[sbell]

...if only the figures looked like the illustrations in the accompanying paper...

Yes. Reducing the size by about half may have helped with the lack of detail.
The count of digits on each forelimb should be 4 instead of 5.

That looks a lot like the style of Diramix and Deagostini. Right down to the bead fills, and the disconnect between the images and the figures. It's too bad, because we need more caudate figures.

[sbell]

Safari Tennessee Aquarium fire salamander

[Shane]

Love that fire salamander. Lucky enough to have one. My grail is the Tennessee Aquarium Mudpuppy, it almost never comes up for sale and I think the last one that did ended up selling for almost two hundred dollars.

[sbell]

Love that fire salamander. Lucky enough to have one. My grail is the Tennessee Aquarium Mudpuppy, it almost never comes up for sale and I think the last one that did ended up selling for almost two hundred dollars.

That's the only one I got in store. In, like, 2005.
The rest were all online later right before they disappeared!

[bmathison1972]

Play Visions red salamander:

[sbell]

Safari Tennessee Aquarium green salamander

[sbell]

Safari Tennessee Aquarium red salamander

[sbell]

Safari Tennessee Aquarium marbled salamander

[sbell]

Safari Tennessee Aquarium Yohnalossee salamander

[sbell]

Safari Tennessee Aquarium Crested newt

[sbell]

Safari Tennessee Aquarium Northern mudpuppy