Mathison Museum of Natural History

[bmathison1972]

Species: Homarus gammarus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name(s): European lobster; common lobster

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Epoch
Series/Collection: Earth Life Journey Crabs and Shrimp Pt. 2
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (excl. appendages) approx. 5.5 cm for a scale of 1:4.2-1:11
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: There were three sets in Epoch's Crabs and Shrimp series. This European lobster was first released in the second set (year unknown). It was reissued in the third set in 2004. I am not entirely sure which set mine came from as I bought it individually.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea
Habitat: Continental shelf, usually on hard substrates from 0-150 meters (usual range 0-50 meters)
Diet: Benthic invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: The two large claws (chelipeds) serve different functions. One is larger and is the 'crusher', with large rounded nodules used for crushing prey. The second is smaller and is the 'cutter', with sharp inner edges used for holding, tearing, or slicing prey.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Phyllomedusa sauvagii Boulenger, 1882
Common name(s): waxy monkey leaf frog; painted belly leaf frog

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: SO-TA
Series/Collection: 1/1 Common Rain Frog & Waxy Monkey Tree Frog
Year of Production: 2022
Size/Scale: As displayed, figure 12.5 cm across its widest points. Snout-to-vent length approx. 6.0 cm for a scale of 1:1.2-1:1.6 depending on the sex.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare (possibly unique as a sculpt, see below)
Miscellaneous Notes: Some assembly is required. There were two versions of this set released, and each with two figures of this species, one as a box set and one via gashapon machines; I believe mine is from the latter. The sculpts are the same, but paint jobs are slightly different between the two. There appears to also be a glow-in-the-dark version. The set was reissued in 2024, resulting in at least seven variations of this model.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central South America (n. Argentina, e. Bolivia, w. Paraguay, sw. Brazil)
Habitat: Gran Chaco; arboreal. Breeding occurs in temporary lagoons and flooded fields.
Diet: Terrestrial invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Phyllomedusa sauvagii is adapted to living in an environment that goes through dry periods. Using a special waxy secretion on its body (hence the common name), excretion of up to 80% of its nitrogen waste in uric acid, and diurnal torpor allows for impermeabilization of the skin.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Solenopsis invicta Buren, 1972
Common name(s): red imported fire ant

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series/Collection: Hidden Kingdom Insects
Year of Production: 2005
Size/Scale: Body length (excl. appendages) approx. 11.0 cm for a scale of 45.8-18.3:1 for a worker
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: I know of only one other figure of this species, a 2021 model by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. The Safari figure is actually the more accurate of the two, as it was sculpted with two segments on its petiole (the segments connecting the thorax with the bulbous part of the abdomen); in the Takara figure, the petiole has only one segment.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Native to South America (Pantanal region); introduced to and established in southern United States and adjacent Mexico, West Indies, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, southeastern mainland China, Australia, and Italy. Introductions to New Zealand have been successfully eradicated.
Habitat: Seasonally flooded savanna, floodplains, wetlands; in introduced areas, usually open disturbed areas, roadsides, agricultural fields, fruit orchards, greenhouses, urban and suburban parks, yards, schoolyards, golf courses, street verges.
Diet: Primarily carrion; occasionally honeydew produced by sternorrhynchan hemipterans or predaceous on other insects
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Solenopsis invicta has become an invasive species. The first record of it outside of its native range was in the 1930s in Alabama, USA. It is believed the ants arrived on cargo ships from Argentina. In the US it has spread throughout much of the southern part of the country and adjacent Mexico. Introductions to other parts of the world are believed to be from the United States (e.g. on imported golf turf) rather than from their native range. There have been numerous interceptions, especially in Europe, that may have prevented establishment but the only place where eradication efforts were deemed successful was New Zealand. Some reported introductions (e.g., India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore) are based on misidentifications.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Phalacrognathus muelleri MacLeay, 1885
Common name(s): rainbow stag beetle; Mueller's stag beetle; king stag beetle

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Wing Mau
Series/Collection: Insects
Year of Production: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length (incl. mandibles) approx. 5.0 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon to rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our third look at P. muelleri in the Museum and it may be the first figure of this species ever produced! The Wing Mau Insects collection consists of 24 figures representing 23 species of beetles (there are two color variants of Adalia bipunctata). The figures have the Latin name printed on the underside. The figures seem to have been influenced by an Italian poster, Beetles, from 1992, as all the species are represented in that poster (including both variants of Adalia bipunctata) and have the same Latin names assigned to them (this poster hangs in my home office; I've had it since 1995). Some figures in this set were also produced for Play Visions for their Habitat Earth line.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Australia (northeastern Queensland) and New Guinea
Habitat: Rainforests, sclerophyll forests
Diet: Larvae feed in decaying wood infected by white rot fungi; adults eat decaying wood, sap, nectar, and overripe fruit
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: There are two subspecies of P. muelleri, separated by the Torres Strait; the type subspecies P. m. muelleri occurs in Queensland, Australia while P. m. fuscomicans occurs in New Guinea.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Papilio maackii Ménétries, 1859
Common name(s): Alpine black swallowtail; emerald machaonoviy peacock

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Bandai
Series/Collection: Bugs Museum
Year of Production: 2000
Size/Scale: Wingspan approx. 3.3 cm for a scale of 1:3.6-1:4.2
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique (see below)
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the twelfth species of Papilio seen in the Museum! The Bugs Museum collection is a set of 6 insects that are displayed in little boxes, as if they were museum specimens (see inset). The insects, the base, and cover are all separate and removeable, so the insects can be displayed on or off the bases, with or without the plastic covers. Each has a small sticker with the Japanese name, sex, and (for the beetles) size. The stickers do not hold well and best reinforced with glue. Last year when Bandai announced the Advanced Swallowtail collection in their Diversity of Life on Earth line, P. maackii was included, but by the time the set made it to production it was replaced with Graphium sarpedon. To the best of my knowledge, today's figure is still unique for P. maackii.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Central and East Asia, Japan
Habitat: Montane deciduous and mixed forests, meadows, suburban parks and gardens
Diet: Larvae feed on a variety of plants, including Zanthoxylum ailanthoides (ailanthus-like prickly ash), Orixa japonica (Japanese orixa), Phellodendron amurense (Amur cork tree), and Tetradium glabrifolium; adults take nectar from flowers
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: The taxonomic validity of P. maackii has often been disputed. Along with the related P. syfanius, it has often been regarded as a subspecies of P. bianor or at least conspecific with one another. Molecular studies in 2011 showed that P. maackii and P. syfanius for a distinct clade from P. bianor and other members of the subgenus Princeps. Whether P. mackii and P. syfanius are distinct from each other however, remains in question. If they are distinct taxa, the same data suggested that speciation between the two is quite recent.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Hexarthrius mandibularis Deyrolle, 1881

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Sega
Series/Collection: Mushi King - large series, standard
Year of Production: 2003
Size/Scale: Body length (incl. mandibles) approx. 12.0, slightly over 1:1 or a large, major male
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the third time we've seen H. mandibularis in the Museum. In the early 2000s, this was a go-to species for Sega and it shows up in several of their lines.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indonesia
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed on rotting hardwoods; adults are attracted to tree sap.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: The natural life cycle of H. mandibularis is unknown. In captivity, development takes 9-12 months, with most of that time spent as a larva.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Lucilia caesar (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name(s): common greenbottle fly

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series/Collection: Capsule Q Museum - Sanitary Insect Pest Exhibition
Year of Production: 2015
Size/Scale: Body length (excl. appendages) approx. 3.5 cm for a scale of 4.4:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Although this is a Capsule Q Museum figure, I do not think assembly was required (I cannot remember).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Palearctic
Habitat: Highly variable based on food availability, including forests, forest margins, farmland, urban and suburban areas; usually in shaded areas
Diet: Larvae feed on carrion and occasionally cause facultative myiasis in wildlife; adults feed on pollen and nectar
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: While larvae of L. caesar primarily feed on carrion, there have been a few reports of it causing facultative myiasis in wildlife, such as roe deer and wild boar. Facultative myiasis is whereby the fly larvae feed in necrotizing wounds in pre-existing lesions, as opposed to obligatory myiasis whereby fly larvae require healthy host tissue as a nutritive source.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Brighstoneus simmondsi Lockwood et al., 2021

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: CollectA
Series/Collection: Prehistoric World
Year of Production: 2023
Size/Scale: Figure length approx. 14.5 cm. Using femur as a metric (n=2.2 cm) scale comes to approx. 1:32 (see below)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Not a lot to say about a recent rendition of a unique figure! The scale above was calculated based on the femur; I estimated the figure's femur at 2.2 cm and the femur of the holotype specimen is roughly 70 cm based on the scale bar in the publication. Please correct me if I am wrong :-)

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of present-day England
Habitat: Open semi-arid coniferous forests and adjacent alluvial plains
Diet: Plants; probably conifers, cycads, ferns
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Brighstoneus simmondsi was initially considered to be Iguanodon and then later Mantellisaurus in the 1980s until more of its remains were discovered and it was determined to be distinct from either.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Propithecus coquereli Grandidier, 1867
Common name(s): Coquerel's sifaka

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Play Visions
Series/Collection: Lemurs & Prosimians
Year of Production: 1999
Size/Scale: Scale difficult to calculate because of the animal's posture. Body length approx. 5.0 cm, which would scale at 1:8.4-1:10. Using tail as a metric (n=8.5 cm) scale comes to 1:5.9-1:7.1, but I suspect the tail is sculpted a bit long in relation to the rest of the body.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Other figures of this species I am aware of are bipedal, including two by K&M International and one by Safari Ltd.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Northwestern Madagascar
Habitat: Lowland dry deciduous and mixed forests
Diet: Leaves, seeds, flowers, fruit, bark
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Critically Endangered
Miscellaneous Notes: Propithecus coquereli lives in a matriarchal system of 3-10 individuals. All adult females and even most subadult females are dominant over males. For example, females have preferential access to food. When a female is browsing in a tree or shrub, a male will wait for her to finish before feeding.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name(s): Canada goose

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series/Collection: Great Lakes TOOB
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Scale challenging to calculate but measured along the back, body length approx. 6.5 cm for a scale of 1:11.5-1:16.9 depending on the subspecies
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: Ideally I would eventually like a figure of this species a little larger than this one. Papo's 2021 figure isn't much larger than this one, however.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: North America; introduced to other locations around the world, including Europe, Iceland, Arabian Peninsula, Russia (Kamchatka Peninsula), East China, Japan, New Zealand
Habitat: Highly variable near reliable water sources, including grassy wetlands, grassy fields, agricultural fields, irrigation ditches and canals, campuses, golf courses, parks
Diet: Plants. In the summer, diet is primarily grasses and sedges; in the winter diet shifts to berries, seeds, agricultural grains.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Branta canadensis is generally monogamous and most pairs stay together for life. Partners typically pair up in their second year. Nests are constructed on elevated areas near water, such as on beaver lodges and muskrat mounds. The female selects the nest site, build the nest, and incubates the eggs while the male guards the nest. The incubation period is about 24-32 days. Chicks fledge around 6-9 weeks old but young birds will often remain with their parents for the first year.

[Sim]

I'm tempted by the Safari Canada goose.  I have the one by Papo, and I would prefer if its neck was longer like Safari's.  I also prefer the pose of the Safari version.  The feathers I prefer on Papo's as Safari's while nice look a bit exaggerated.  In the end I went with Papo's as I thought Safari's would be too small for me, but it's interesting you say its almost the same size as Papo's and that you'd prefer a bigger one than Papo's.  Papo's Canada goose is quite a nice size, perhaps you've underestimated its size?

[bmathison1972]

I'm tempted by the Safari Canada goose.  I have the one by Papo, and I would prefer if its neck was longer like Safari's.  I also prefer the pose of the Safari version.  The feathers I prefer on Papo's as Safari's while nice look a bit exaggerated.  In the end I went with Papo's as I thought Safari's would be too small for me, but it's interesting you say its almost the same size as Papo's and that you'd prefer a bigger one than Papo's.  Papo's Canada goose is quite a nice size, perhaps you've underestimated its size?

The size might be difficult to interpret based on its posture of the Papo model but side-by-side pics make them look very similar in size. Even if Papo's is a more desirable size, I don't like the pose and with the open wings, so I would not replace the Safari version for it. Rather, I'd wait for Safari to make a WoW version, or someone else...

[Sim]

Can you direct me to a photo of the two Canada goose figures together?

[Gwangi]

I'm tempted by the Safari Canada goose.  I have the one by Papo, and I would prefer if its neck was longer like Safari's.  I also prefer the pose of the Safari version.  The feathers I prefer on Papo's as Safari's while nice look a bit exaggerated.  In the end I went with Papo's as I thought Safari's would be too small for me, but it's interesting you say its almost the same size as Papo's and that you'd prefer a bigger one than Papo's.  Papo's Canada goose is quite a nice size, perhaps you've underestimated its size?

The size might be difficult to interpret based on its posture of the Papo model but side-by-side pics make them look very similar in size. Even if Papo's is a more desirable size, I don't like the pose and with the open wings, so I would not replace the Safari version for it. Rather, I'd wait for Safari to make a WoW version, or someone else...

It's shocking how few Canada goose figures there are. Safari more than any other company really should have made a standard size figure of one by now.

[bmathison1972]

Can you direct me to a photo of the two Canada goose figures together?

I don't remember where; probably someone's comparison pics on the STS forum. Maybe @Saarlooswolfhound has both and can share a pic?

[Saarlooswolfhound]

Ha, yes I do have both presented on my website. Does this help @Sim? If not I can help you further via private message if you like.
(scroll down, the geese are near the bottom)
https://thecuriouscompendium.wixsite.com/curiouscompendium/avian-collection

[bmathison1972]

Hmmm...maybe it is bigger than I thought. Oh well, I still think the Safari model is nicer, even if a tad small.

[Sim]

Thanks guys!  I must have seen that photo but forgotten about it!  It is helpful, thanks!  I might get the Safari Canada goose...

[bmathison1972]

Species: Procyon lotor (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common name(s): raccoon; common raccoon; North American raccoon; northern raccoon

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Papo
Series/Collection: Wild Animals
Year of Production: 2011
Size/Scale: Figure approx. 7.0 cm across its widest points. Body length difficult to measure due to the animal's posture, but using hind foot as a metric (n=1.2 cm) scale comes to approx. 1:6.9-1:11.5.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: Papo reissued this figure in 2023.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: North and Central America; introduced to other parts of the world, including Europe, Japan, Caribbean, and Caucasia
Habitat: Damp mixed and deciduous woodlands, farmland, urban and suburban parks, gardens, yards
Diet: Opportunistic, non-discriminant omnivore, including fruits, seeds, nuts, agricultural grains, terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates, amphibians, fish, bird eggs, carrion, human refuse
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: The most important sense for a raccoon is probably touch. They have hyper-sensitive front paws that are protected by a thin, thorny layer that becomes pliable when wet. Nearly two-thirds of the area responsible for sensory perception in the raccoon's cerebral cortex is specialized for the interpretation of tactile impulses, more than in any other studied animal! They can also identify objects before actually grasping them, by using vibrissae (whiskers) located above their claws.

[sbell]

I have to say, there's always something 'off' about racoon figures. Like they're made just a little too cute or cartoonish or something.
 
I still think the best one is the Safari NAW one, although it's quite large so doesn't scale with anything.