Turtles

[stemturtle]

That is really a nice figurine @stemturtle ! A great sculpter. I have one poison dart frog (Dendrobates auratus) from this artist. Like this one really special!

Thank you, @Beetle guy. Next is a Blanding's turtle.

[stemturtle]

Blanding's turtle, Emydoidea blandingii (My Favorite Animals)

Carapace length 2.0 in. or 5.1 cm., scale about 1:4.
Blanding's turtle resembles a black army helmet with a yellow throat. The front third of the plastron has a hinge similar to a box turtle.
The pose of the model suggests a more aquatic species than the wood turtle. Its status is threatened in Minnesota.

[Beetle guy]

Really good! I looked at the 'My favorite Animal' website. man...what a turtle collection 

[bmathison1972]

Golden coin turtle, Cuora trifasciata by Yowie USA - Wild Water Series, new for 2019

[stemturtle]

Congratulations @bmathison1972 for finding Cuora trifasciata by Yowie.
The golden coin turtle is a new species for toy collectors.
There are several examples of a related species, Chinese box turtle or yellow-margined box turtle, Cuora flavomarginata.


Comparison of Golden coin turtle, Cuora trifasciata (Yowie) and
Chinese box turtle, Cuora flavomarginata (Yujin) on right.

Photo added on 7/6/2019

[Advicot]

A really good figure by Papo. I got this figure at Hamleys shop and got it free after it didn't have a bar code, so the clerk gave it me for free.   

[Isidro]

Lucky boy!
I've found it for sale in a shop, and after that I've learned that was retired, so I'm glad to have it. In my opinion it's the best leatherback turtle of any brand!

[Advicot]

Is it just the lighting or is its shell blue? 

[Advicot]

Cute, but it has a very cartoon like face.

[stemturtle]

African sideneck turtle, unidentified species (Yowie Gummies).
Carapace length about 1 1/8 in. or 2.9 cm.


Collectors will be pleased to add this example to their sparsely represented pleurodires.
Two genera in family Pelomedusidae are popular with the pet trade:
African helmeted turtle, Pelomedusa subrufa, and
African mud turtle, Pelusios sp.
This figure lacks detail to diagnose field marks.
Based on distribution, I favor an ID of the helmeted turtle over the mud turtle.



I bought the turtle on eBay, although it is early days for the 2019 release.
Yowie Gummies are a set of 16 popular pets.

[jumboplayset]

i just recieved this model the other day- I haven't assembled it yet - its absolutely my favorite animal-

[stemturtle]

Welcome to the forum @jumboplayset. Thanks for posting about your turtle model.
What species is the turtle? I hope you will share a photo when you can.

[stemturtle]

Galapagos tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra (Schleich, Wild Life), length about 3 in.

Our thread on species identification names this unidentified giant tortoise figure as a Galapagos tortoise. Another giant tortoise, the Aldabra, is indigenous to the Indian Ocean rather than the Pacific Ocean, home of the Galapagos.



Comparison of the Aldabra tortoise, Aldabrachelys gigantea (Colorata) and the Galapagos tortoise.



Location of the cervical scute, which is is present in most Aldabra tortoises, but absent in Galapagos tortoises. This scute covers the underlying nuchal bone, and is sometimes called a nuchal scute. It was not sculpted on the Colorata figure. Thanks to the clever Mrs. Stemturtle for the illustration using Photoshop.

C. n. porteri, the Santa Cruz Island tortoise is the best known Galapagos subspecies. If I were an expert, I would suggest this ID.

[bmathison1972]

I also have the new Schleich Galapagos tortoise. Do you like it @stemturtle ? I do!! Wish it was a tad bigger, but that's OK; it can representa younger individual. My Papo 'Galapagos' tortoise has a nuchal scute, so I am calling it an Aldabra.

[stemturtle]

Yes, @bmathison1972, I like this Galapagos tortoise. Amazing detail for such a small figure.

[bmathison1972]

Yes, @bmathison1972, I like this Galapagos tortoise. Amazing detail for such a small figure.

I agree!

[Burgerenby]

And frankly, looks a lot more like a desert tortoise than a Galapagos or Aldabra giant tortoise.

It is however a Galápagos tortoise, not a desert tortoise, it was Safari Ltd. who did the mislabeling, not Schleich.
The figure has been retired by now but reemerged in the German grocery store chain Edeka as they currently have a collaboration with Schleich.



The booklet that they are handing out is identifying the Schleich model as a Santa Cruz tortoise.
They also correctly identify the brown-throated sloth and toco toucan that were simply labelled as "sloth" and "toucan" in the Schleich catalog.






Looking closely at the figure one can identify it as a western Santa Cruz Island tortoise (Chelonoidis porteri).
The model resembles this species far more than Gopherus morafkai as it was not originally intended to be desert tortoise.

For better comparison two images from Wikipedia of G. morafkai and C. porteri:

[Advicot]

So interesting!

[stemturtle]

Previous and new versions of the Schleich tortoises, Chelonoidis nigra porteri   

A booklet identifying the previous version of this Schleich figure as a Santa Cruz Island Galapagos tortoise was posted by @Stolpergeist. This supports the ID of the new version as a Santa Cruz tortoise. Some taxonomists recognize the subspecies as a full species. The same mold was used for both the older rendition of the Schleich tortoise and for the Safari "desert tortise."              

[bmathison1972]

Previous and new versions of the Schleich tortoises, Chelonoidis nigra porteri   

A booklet identifying the previous version of this Schleich figure as a Santa Cruz Island Galapagos tortoise was posted by @Stolpergeist. This supports the ID of the new version as a Santa Cruz tortoise. Some taxonomists recognize the subspecies as a full species. The same mold was used for both the older rendition of the Schleich tortoise and for the Safari "desert tortise."         

what's funny @stemturtle is that morphologically, the older one is better for a desert tortoise than a Galapagos one!