Blaine's Bug of the Day

[bmathison1972]

The roseate emperor, Eochroa trimenii.

One figure, a magnet by Doug Walpus Art Studio.

[bmathison1972]

OK...one last one for now! This time, a plasterer bee in the genus Colletes.

One figure, by Play Visions (Bees, Wasps, and Hornets). With nearly 100 species in North America alone, I am not comfortable putting a species name on this figure. Still, it is probably the only member of the family Colletidae in toy/figure form.

[bmathison1972]

The silver-bordered fritillary, Boloria selene.

One figure, by K&M International (Butterfly Nature Tube). This figure has been an 'unidentified' figure for years until a recent suggestion of B. selene was made by a forum member.

[bmathison1972]

Time to update with a few new genera and species. First up, the enigmatic prehistoric crustacean, Dithyrocaris (several of these today will be extinct taxa).
I have two figures, both variants of the same sculpt, by Paleocasts.

[bmathison1972]

Next the red wood ant, Formica rufa. Ants are common in bin sets but very rarely marketed below the family level. This single figure is a model kit by the French company Heller.

[bmathison1972]

The enigmatic extinct arthropod, Leanchoilia superlata.

I have two figures, one main figure and a smaller version, by Paleocasts.

[bmathison1972]

Last one for the day, the Tully Monster, Tullimonstrum gregarium. I was at one point interested in this species, but then decided against it when it was considered a chordate related to lampreys. Apparently, at the time of this writing, it is now back among the invertebrates. Because of its enigmatic standing I will collect a couple figures that become available.

This first one was a 'freebie' given to me by Pat May (Paleocasts) when I ordered a bunch of arthropods from him.

[Halichoeres]

Last one for the day, the Tully Monster, Tullimonstrum gregarium. I was at one point interested in this species, but then decided against it when it was considered a chordate related to lampreys. Apparently, at the time of this writing, it is now back among the invertebrates. Because of its enigmatic standing I will collect a couple figures that become available.

This first one was a 'freebie' given to me by Pat May (Paleocasts) when I ordered a bunch of arthropods from him.

It turns out the original paper put its thumb on the scale by sampling non-vertebrate taxa very poorly in the phylogeny. They almost couldn't help but recover it as a vertebrate. So it probably isn't one, but it does have a few curious vertebrate-esque features like pigment stains that look suspiciously like retinas.

[bmathison1972]

Last one for the day, the Tully Monster, Tullimonstrum gregarium. I was at one point interested in this species, but then decided against it when it was considered a chordate related to lampreys. Apparently, at the time of this writing, it is now back among the invertebrates. Because of its enigmatic standing I will collect a couple figures that become available.

This first one was a 'freebie' given to me by Pat May (Paleocasts) when I ordered a bunch of arthropods from him.

It turns out the original paper put its thumb on the scale by sampling non-vertebrate taxa very poorly in the phylogeny. They almost couldn't help but recover it as a vertebrate. So it probably isn't one, but it does have a few curious vertebrate-esque features like pigment stains that look suspiciously like retinas.

It's still cool enough to have in my museum for the time being 

[bmathison1972]

OK, spent the last week doing lots of updates to Bug of the Day. Initially, it was to update all the scarabaeboid beetles I have acquired since late April (and trust me, there has been a lot). I updated 18 genera, including new species in Oryctes and Hexarthirus, and a new subspecies in Eupatorus. I should be getting something from Brett in the near future, after which I'll update a few more.

However, since I was systematically going through the posts, I added a bunch of minor updates throughout the thread.

[Beetle guy]

Another fancy rhinoceros beetle, Scapenes australis. [updated 11/23/2017]

1. DeAgostini (World Insect Data Book).
2. Sega

You have portrait the wrong SEGA beetle here. There is a small Scapenes australis, but this is the Strategus mandibularis ;-)

[bmathison1972]

Another fancy rhinoceros beetle, Scapenes australis. [updated 11/23/2017]

1. DeAgostini (World Insect Data Book).
2. Sega

You have portrait the wrong SEGA beetle here. There is a small Scapenes australis, but this is the Strategus mandibularis ;-)

Aw crap I grabbed the wrong one! LOL. Thanks, I'll correct it. They are alphabetically next to each other so I just grabbed the wrong one...

[Beetle guy]

:-) to many figurines? ;-)

[bmathison1972]

:-) to many figurines? ;-)

NEVER! 

[brontodocus]

Wow, those Paleocasts models!

[bmathison1972]

Revisiting the Red Admiral...

The red admiral, Vanessa atalanta (Linnaeus, 1758), occurs in temperate regions throughout much of the Holarctic, as well as Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Caribbean. Larvae have a broad host range, although the main host plants are nettles in the family Urticaceae. A familiar species, it is not commonly-made in toy/figure form, but has not been ignored.

Clockwise from top left:
1. Toy Major
2. Doug Walpus Art Studio [a magnet figurine]
3. Bullyland
4. Land and Sea Collectibles
5. Skillcraft (Insect Lab)

[bmathison1972]

Revisiting the Neotropical rhinoceros beetle, Golofa claviger (Linnaeus, 1771). This species is native to Peru and Ecuador. Here we see two major males about to engage in a territorial dispute! The upper brown figure is by Kabaya (World Insect Science 1) and the lower more yellow figure is by Sega (small series, standard).

[bmathison1972]

Today we visit the Japanese crayfish, Cambaroides japonicus (De Haan, 1841). This species is endemic to Japan where it is considered vulnerable. This species is rather popular among Japanese manufacturers, and is often made in both brown and blue color variants:

above water, left to right:
1. Kaiyodo (Capsule Q Animatales - Tohoku)
2. F-toys (Creatures of the Waterside)
3. Kaiyodo (Natural Monuments of Japan)
4. F-toys (Creatures of the Waterside) [blue variant]

below water, left to right:
1. Kaiyodo (Capsule Q Animatales - Tohoku) [blue variant]
2. Kaiyodo (Natural Monuments of Japan) [blue variant - Special Release]
3. Yujin (Shrimps and Crabs Collection)

[bmathison1972]

Today we visit the mud crab (also known as a mangrove crab or black crab), Scylla serrata (Forsskal, 1775). This is an economically-important 'food' crab native to mangroves and estuaries in the Indo-Pacific [my mini diorama here might not be the best for this species, but it's currently the only marine one I have]. The figure on the right is a 'small' one by AAA (they also made a much larger model); the one on the left is by Kaiyodo (Aquatales Polyresin Series).

[Halichoeres]

Cool crabs, but I'm really drooling over those dioramas. Did you build those?