Mathison Museum of Natural History

[bmathison1972]

Thank you @JimoAi - I missed the boat on that Toy Spirits set, so I didn't realize this species was in there. I will edit.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Rosalia ferriei Vuillet, 1911

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Capsule Q Museum - Okinawa
Year of Release: 2013
Size/Scale: Body length (not including antennae) 4.3 cm for a scale of approximately 1.5:1 (calculations based on measured specimens posted online)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: This is one of at least three species of Rosalia in toy/figure form. Being a Capsule Q Animatales figure, some assembly is required.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Amami Ōshima, Japan
Habitat: Forests
Diet: Larvae develop in rotting hardwoods, especially Castanopsis sieboldii (Itajii chinquapin); adult feeding habits unknown (adults of other Rosalia feed on flowers).
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: I had a hard time researching information on this species. Apparently it is endemic to the island of Amami Ōshima, and it is believed to be suffering from population decrease due to deforestation.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy et Gaimard, 1824) (blacktip reef shark)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Wild Safari Sealife
Year of Release: 2013 (2012)
Size/Scale: Body length 14.0 cm for a scale of 1:6.5-1:14.2
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: There were apparently three different releases of this figure early on, each with different paint applications. The original in 2012 was dark brown with sharper highlights, followed shortly by an olive-green form, also with sharp highlights. In late 2013, the version shown here was released, which is a matte grey with more subtle highlights (the markings are more obvious in-hand than they may appear in this pic).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-Pacific
Habitat: Reef-associated, usually at depths of 20-75 meters
Diet: Fish, marine invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Vulnerable
Miscellaneous Notes: Carcharhinus melanopterus has been known to bite people wading or diving in shallow water, but generally they are not considered an aggressive shark. None of the documented attacks to date have been fatal. Often, the shark is drawn to people because of fish they are catching, rather than the person themselves.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Atrax robustus Cambridge, 1877 (Sydney funnelweb spider)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.
Series: Venomous Spiders
Year of Release: 2010
Size/Scale: Figure 4.0 cm tall. Body length comes to 2.7 cm, making it approximately 1:1.3 for a female (which this figure appears to be)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure also comes with a flat black circular base (not shown here) that has the Latin name, Japanese name, and degree of toxicity.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Sydney Region, New South Wales, Australia
Habitat: Moist microhabitats, such as in soil and under rocks and logs in gullies, forests, gardens, compost heaps
Diet: Invertebrates; occasionally small vertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Atrax robustus is often regarded as the most venomous spider in the world. The venom contains delta atracotoxin, which makes the venom particularly lethal to primates, more so than to other mammals. Interestingly, unlike widows in the genus Latrodectus where the females are the more venomous sex, it is the males of A. robustus that are more venomous.

[Halichoeres]

Pretty good run of fish there. The cowfish and moray are particularly appealing. (Not that the insects are anything to sneeze at, either.)

[bmathison1972]

Pretty good run of fish there. The cowfish and moray are particularly appealing. (Not that the insects are anything to sneeze at, either.)

yeah right after a stats update shows fish have been slightly overperforming, 3 of the next four were fish LOL

[bmathison1972]

Species: Leptuca crenulata (Lockington, 1877) (Mexican fiddler crab)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Play Visions
Series: Habitat Earth: Crabs
Year of Release: 1996
Size/Scale: Figure width 5.8 cm. Carapace length 1.5 cm, for a scale slightly larger than 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique (see below)
Miscellaneous Notes: This sculpt was also used by PEC in their crab collection (that is essentially a set of PV knockoffs) as well as by Battat.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Coastal southern California and Baja California, Mexico
Habitat: Intertidal zone of mud flats and salt marshes
Diet: Filamentous algae, microbes, detritus
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Like other fiddler crabs, L. crenulata digs burrows in the upper reaches of mud flats and salt marshes; the burrows can be up to 0.5 meters deep in the substrate. Another indicator of fiddler crab activity are little mud balls left behind after extracting food from sediment.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Cybister chinensis Motschulsky, 1854 (giant Asian diving beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: F-toys
Series: Creatures of the Waterside
Year of Release: 2008
Size/Scale: Body length 3.8 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This is our second look at C. chinensis in the Museum. This species is usually marketed as C. japonicus, which is now considered a synonym of C. chinensis. The figure is removable from its base.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: East Asia, Japan
Habitat: Freshwater, including lakes, ponds, ditches, canals, rice paddies
Diet: Predaceous on freshwater insects, microcrustaceans, tadpoles, small fish
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: The males of many large dytiscids, including C. chinensis, have specialized front tarsi; the tarsal segments are modified into large suction cups that are used to hold the female during underwater mating. This feature can be seen on today's figure, as well as the two by Kaiyodo.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Lucilia sp. (blow fly; greenbottle fly)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: K&M International
Series: Wild Republic - Insects Polyvinyl Bag
Year of Release: unknown
Size/Scale: Body length 8.0 cm, for a scale of 17.1:1-8:1 [specific scale species dependent]
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare [genus-level]
Miscellaneous Notes: The genus-level identification is my own, based on color and wing venation; the wing venation is actually pretty darn accurate for a member of the family Calliphoridae (at least on its right side)!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Cosmopolitan
Habitat: Highly variable, but common in forests, fields, parks, gardens, disturbed areas, human habitations
Diet: Most larvae feed on decaying organic material, such as carrion; some cause facultative or obligatory myiasis on humans and other animals. Adults typically taken pollen or nectar from flowers.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A
Miscellaneous Notes: Lucilia is one of the most common causes of facultative myiasis (infestation of the human body with fly larvae), usually seen in untreated wounds of the skin and soft tissues. Lucilia larvae that only feed on dead tissue are used for medical maggot therapy, whereby sterile, laboratory-raised larvae are used to debride dead tissue from people with non-healing foot lesions, burn victims, etc.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Prosopocoilus inclinatus (Motschulsky, 1857)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Yell
Series: Beetles on Wood
Year of Release: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length (including mandibles) 6.5 cm, within scale 1:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Common
Miscellaneous Notes: Today is our third look at this species in the Museum. Yell's 'Beetles on Wood' collection features many of the typical scarbaeoid species made by Japanese companies. The figures are sold in large slotted plastic balls (similar to cat toys) and come with a real piece of wood to display them with. It took it upon myself to use an adhesive to permanently affix the beetles to their piece of wood, making mini dioramas out of them.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Japan, Taiwan, Korean Peninsula
Habitat: Oak forests
Diet: Larvae breed in rotting logs of Quercus (oak); adults are attracted to sap flows.
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Like many other scarabaeoid beetles, P. inclinatus has a long developmental cycle in the larval substrate. Development from egg to adult takes 1-2 years. Adults live only 3-4 months and cannot survive the winter.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Allomyrina dichotoma (Linnaeus, 1771) (Japanese rhinoceros beetle)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Capsule Q Museum - Insects Gather to Sap, Night Feast of Midsummer
Year of Release: 2015
Size/Scale: Body length (including horn) 4.7 cm, which is within scale 1:1 for a minor male. Given the length of the horn in this figure, more realistically it is 1:1.7 for a major male.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very common
Miscellaneous Notes: Allomyrina dichotoma is the most-represented species in my collection, and this is the third time we've seen it in the Museum. The figure does not require assembly and has a small, non-obtrusive magnet on the underside (as do all the figures in this particular collection).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southeast Asia, including China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical hardwood forests
Diet: Larvae feed on organic detritus in soil; adults are attracted to sap flows
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Not Evaluated
Miscellaneous Notes: Allomyrina dichotoma appears to be the influence for the kaiju Megalon from the 1973 Toho film, Godzilla vs. Megalon.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Micrurus fulvius (Linnaeus, 1766) (eastern coral snake)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Capsule Q Museum - Toxic and Dangerous Animals
Year of Release: 2014
Size/Scale: Figure length 15.0 cm. Measured along spine 24.5 cm for a scale of 1:1.8-1:3.2 on average (1:5.2 for a maximum-sized specimen)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure is softer than Kaiyodo figures typically are, in many ways reminiscent of the snake figures by Club Earth and Wing Mau.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Southern Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States
Habitat: Scrub forests, flatwoods, hammocks, sand ridges; usually in drier areas that are open or shrubby
Diet: Snakes (including its own species), lizards, birds, frogs, fish, invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: The venom of M. fulvius contains neurotoxin, resulting in rapid paralysis and respiratory failure in prey; bites to humans are rarely fatal, however. In North America (at least) venomous coral snakes can be differentiated from non-venomous king snakes with a similar color pattern by the rhyme, red touch yellow, kill a fellow; red touch black, friend of Jack.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Ornithoptera priamus (Linnaeus, 1758) (common green birdwing)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: K&M International
Series: Wild Republic - Butterflies Nature Tube
Year of Release: 2004
Size/Scale: Wingspan 6.0 cm, for a scale of approximately 1:2.1-1:2.6
Frequency of species in toy/figure (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The K&M Butterflies Nature Tube figures were not marketed at the species level, however most of them appear to be painted after actual species. All of the identifications are mine or by other members of the ATF and STS forums. Today's figure is believed to represent the blue morph of the male O. priamus. Several of the sculpts (and in some cases paint style) were also used by some of the earlier Safari Ltd. sets and Insect Lore.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Northeastern Australia, Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands
Habitat: Rainforests
Diet: Larvae feed on plants in the genus Aristolochia (birtwirth); adults take nectar from flowers
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Like other birdwings, O. priamus is sexually dimorphic. Females are slightly larger and dark brown with white maculae; only the males have the green to blue coloring.

[Isidro]

I'm very surprised that this famous butterfly species is done only once in figure form, while several lesser known species are not unique in toy market!

[bmathison1972]

Species: Nemateleotris magnifica Fowler, 1938 (fire goby)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Yujin
Series: Saltwater Fish Pictorial Book 1
Year of Release: 2004
Size/Scale: Figure height 5.0 cm. Measured along midline, body length 4.7 cm for a scale of approximately 1:2 for a maximum-sized specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: The figure is attached to a habitat-style base by a small acrylic rod, from which it is removeable.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Indo-Pacific
Habitat: Coral reefs, usually at depths of 6-70 meters
Diet: Marine invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Because of its easy maintenance and peaceful disposition, N. magnifica is popular in the aquarium trade. They are reef compatible and coexist well with other non-aggressive fish species.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Confuciusornis sanctus Hou et al., 1995

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: PNSO
Series: Prehistoric Animal Models
Year of Release: 2017
Size/Scale: Body length (including tail feathers) 8.3 cm for a scale of 1:6
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: An exciting species to have been made into a toy, it does fall short in terms of accuracy, especially with regards to the wing structure and position. Also, there is apparently no evidence that C. sanctus had a crest, given the large number of fossils known (sexual dimorphism has been observed, but neither sex appeared to have had a crest). Still, it is a fine figure and comes recommended.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of modern-day China
Habitat: Riparian, arboreal
Diet: Presumably small fish
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: To date, C. sanctus is the oldest known bird with a toothless beak (by bird, I am referring to anything within the clade Euavialae). There have been several theories about the animal's diet, including seeds and insects. In 2006, a fossil of C. sanctus was discovered with the remains of a small fish within its alimentary system, suggesting a piscivorous diet.

[bmathison1972]

Species: Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769) (brown rat; Norwegian rat)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Schleich
Series: Farm Life
Year of Release: 2003
Size/Scale: Figure length 6.8 cm. Body length (excluding tail) 4.5 cm for a scale of 1:3.3-1:6.2
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: Surprisingly, the brown rat is not commonly made in toy form, given its familiarity and notoriety.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Native to northern China, now cosmopolitan due to human introductions
Habitat: Forests, fields, wetlands, disturbed areas, parks, gardens, garbage dumps, sewers, human habitations
Diet: Non-discriminant omnivore
IUCN Status (at time of posting): Least Concern
Miscellaneous Notes: Rattus norvegicus is a vector and reservoir for many zoonotic disease-causing agents of humans, including Yersinia pestis (plague), Angiostrongylus cantonensis (angiostrongyliasis), Spirillum minus (rat-bite fever), Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), Trichinella spp. (trichinellosis), and Toxoplasma gondii (toxoplasmosis), among many others.

[Lanthanotus]

Your collection of backgrounds is as outstanding as your collection

[bmathison1972]

Your collection of backgrounds is as outstanding as your collection

Thank you Lanthanotus! I had bought this last one for domestic animals/pets but figured it would work for a rat too (will probably use it for the house mouse as well LOL)

[Isidro]

I tought exactly the same than Lanthanotus, the first thing that take my mind seeing your post is the background of the image tough I guess than compared with the carpet and furniture, this is a rat of the size of a cat
I always believed that the brown rat was native of India, very interesting to learn that instead it was from northern China!