Anurans

[sauroid]

i hope to see your frog and toad figures.

let me start with my Yujin frogs (i have not completed the whole line yet):

Red-eyed leaf frog

Malaysian horned toad

Japanese tree frog

Eastern japanese common toad

Black spotted pond frog

American bull frog

[~The Mandarin~]

Very nice! I like the Malaysian horned toad cos it looks like this: 

[sauroid]

haha i agree.
(btw, your diorama sig has very realistic looking images. very cool idea)

[Battatitan]

Great realistic frogs, Sauroid 

Black spotted pond frog

I like them all, but the pose of the black spotted pong frog is stunning and one that's rarely seen (probably due to it being a awkward pose to manufacture and display). The base is especially intriguing.

[widukind]

Great frogs my friend 

[stemturtle]

Casque-headed frog or Sumaco horned treefrog, Hemiphractus proboscideus (Yujin)
Size 1.75 inches or 4.5 cm.

This is called a marsupial frog because the female carries the tadpoles upon her back, similar to the Surinam toad.
The belly is marked PV 2002. Yujin probably used the Play Visions mold.

The label is enlarged that came with this figure. There did not seem to be a scan on the Internet of the label for the Yujin 2002 set of 23 frogs. 
Now there is. Thanks to my wife for photoshopping the common names from the label's reverse side, shown below the images of the figures.

[brontodocus]

Brilliant figure! I had an eye on that casque-headed frog, too. And thanks for showing a scan of the label, too! While this is definitely a unique sculpt the photos of many other figures from the line look like alternate paint versions of the same sculpt - Ishikawa's Frog and the Chinese Fire-bellied Toad (and possibly the Pedostibes hosii, too) look as if they were the same, for example.

[stemturtle]

Brilliant figure! I had an eye on that casque-headed frog, too. And thanks for showing a scan of the label, too! While this is definitely a unique sculpt the photos of many other figures from the line look like alternate paint versions of the same sculpt - Ishikawa's Frog and the Chinese Fire-bellied Toad (and possibly the Pedostibes hosii, too) look as if they were the same, for example.

Brontodocus, I found your hypothesis intriguing about alternate paint jobs on the same casts. An example is the 1990 Safari poison dart frogs. If my Yujin collection ever grows to the extent of allowing comparisons, I will get back to you.

Kind of you not to ridicule my use of the word Internet instead of World Wide Web.  My B.A predates both.

[stemturtle]

Asian tree frog, Pedostibes hosii (Yujin), shown on a U.S. quarter dollar coin.

This is a true toad. Snout-vent is about 0.75 inches or 2 cm. The figure is less than 1/3 of life size. Adult males are about 7 cm, females about 10 cm.
The figure is marked # 4, same number as the forest green frog. It should be # 9. There is no PV mark or Yujin mark either.

Twelve of the images on the label show a star in the lower right corner. The Asian tree frog image is starred and is a miniature figure.
We can assume that the star denotes a miniature.  This was true for the Yujin series 2 set of 24 turtles.

Therefore, Brontodocus, I do not plan on collecting more of these starry starry frogs. 
Given the small size, it is a good bet that there was some repeat use of casts painted as different species.

[stargatedalek]

sadly many of these molds look familiar to me...
the reason that's sad is because I'm certain that they are all bootlegs which got turned into generic frogs and sold at dollar stores throughout my childhood
curse you dollarama, you knock off everything T_T

[brontodocus]

Something that's really quite puzzling for me is this - since we already talked about that that the PV frogs were also released by Yujin with a different paint scheme I would expect that a given species that was released by both PV and Yujin would just be two paint versions of the same figure. But since you brought up the tree toad Pedostibes hosii, I have a PV figure stamped "Dyeing Poison Frog" which has no resemblance with any dendrobatid but instead is a true toad (parotid glands!). Since its colour is very gaudy but has round, yellowish dots on a (well, at least somewhat) greenish body I found it's most similar to Pedostibes hosii, that's why I always interpreted the figure as one:

[stemturtle]

Stargatedalek:
I share your caution about the generic frog knock-offs.
It wasn't until this year, when David Attenborough released the video, Fabulous Frogs, that I took an interest in collecting frogs.

Brontodocus:
The PV Asian tree toad, Pedostibes hosii, was mislabeled as the dyeing poison frog, Dendrobates histrionica.
Both a green and a blue version were released. I recall reading about this figure, but unfortunately, I did not save the source.
Good luck with painting the mudpuppy. Avoid any paints or varnishes that are not acrylic to avoid reactions with the plastic that will not dry completely.

[stemturtle]

Colorata Tropical Rain Forest Frogs

This 2005 set features 16 frogs.  Each replica is marked with the common name and a figure number.
The figure numbers are identified in a booklet titled The Practical Guide of Frogs, which gives the scientific names and distribution maps.
"Syn." for synonym indicates a  previously used name that has been displaced.


South and Central America
1.   Strawberry poison dart frog, Oophaga (syn. Dendrobates) pumilio
2.   Green and black poison dart frog, Dendrobates auratus
3.   Blue poison dart frog, Dendrobates tinctorius (syn. azureus) "azureus"
4.   Darwin's frog, Rhinoderma darwinii



5.   Clown tree frog, Dendropsophus (syn. Hyla) leucophyllata
6.   Red-eyed tree frog, Agalychnis callidryas
7.   Amazon milk frog, Trachycephalus (syn. Phrynohyas) resinifictrix
8.   Chacoan horned frog, Ceratophrys canwelli, ID by brontodocus (mislabeled Argentine or ornate horned frog, C. ornata)


Africa and Madagascar
9.    Boror reed frog, Hyperolius argus
10.   Rutenberg's reed frog, Heterixalus rutenbergi
11.   Painted reed frog, Hyperolius marmoratus
12.   Baron's mantella, Mantella baroni, ID by brontodocus (mislabeled painted mantella, M. madagascariensis)



13,   Ankafana bright-eyed frog or tawny tree frog, Boophis luteus
14.   Sambava or false tomato frog, Dyscophus guineti
Southeast Asia
15.   Green flying frog, Rhacophorus reinwardtii
16.   Malayan horned frog, Megophrys nasuta

[bmathison1972]

Brontodocus:
The PV Asian tree toad, Pedostibes hosii, was mislabeled as the dyeing poison frog, Dendrobates histrionica.
Both a green and a blue version were released. I recall reading about this figure, but unfortunately, I did not save the source.

When PV uses the same mold for different species, the name sometimes carries over and errors are created. This can be seen with the spiders; the red widow and black widow are painted differently from the same mold, so both are stamped 'red widow'.

[brontodocus]

They're brilliant, aren't they? Some obscure ones like Boophis luteus, the hyperoliids, and last but not least the famous little frog Rhinoderma darwinii (which despite of it being such a famous frog I don't know about any other figure representing it). Many thanks for your wonderful overview, stemturtle! The box is a bit more expensive than some of the others but you get sixteen extra nice frog figures. A must have for frog figure collectors for sure.
The Mantella frog is intended to represent M. madagascariensis but since it has no horseshoe-shaped mark on the throat I have always interpreted it as representing the (otherwise very similar) M. baroni but this is of course just an alternative suggestion and it's probably a bit nitpicking taking throat colouration into account, too... But for the horned frog I have an alternative that fits better than the species Colorata suggests since the horned frog has actually more similarities with a Chacoan Horned Frog, Ceratophrys cranwelli - it has a relatively long snout, more or less parabolic in dorsal view instead of the shorter snout of C. ornata that is more semi-circular when viewed from above. The "horns" are also huge for C. ornata but cranwelli has somewhat more pronounced upper eyelids. Both species come in a great variety of colours but ornata would usually have a dark spot at the rear of the upper eyelid. Both are also frequently mixed up in the pet trade and even in zoos most "ornatas" I've seen were actually cranwellis.

[stemturtle]

Thanks for your comments, brontodocus. I modified the ID of the ornate horned frog to Ceratophrys canwelli.

[stemturtle]

Brontodocus:
The PV Asian tree toad, Pedostibes hosii, was mislabeled as the dyeing poison frog, Dendrobates histrionica.
Both a green and a blue version were released. I recall reading about this figure, but unfortunately, I did not save the source.

When PV uses the same mold for different species, the name sometimes carries over and errors are created. This can be seen with the spiders; the red widow and black widow are painted differently from the same mold, so both are stamped 'red widow'.

Thanks for your reply, bmathison1972. I need to clarify. The blue version of Pedostibes hosii was released by PV in 1996 mislabeled Dendrobates tinctorius and in 1998 mislabeled Dyeing Poisioned Frog. The green version was released in 2002 as a miniature by Yujin. My confusion stemmed from thinking that the green Oriental fire-bellied toad was a recast of the blue Asian tree toad. It was cast from a different mold.


Photo by dinocat62: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?
topic=267.msg3080#msg3080

Edit: Here is a link to STS with a list of the Poisoned Dart Frogs:
http://sts-forum.forumieren.de/t7112-playvisions-listing-of-sets-animals-and-scientific-names
Quote: There have indeed been TWO editions of PD frogs, the first 1996 with latin names on their bellies, the second one 1998 with english names on their bellies, but some of them wrong. The latin names in brackets are those printed on the 1996 edition. The italic latin names are the up-to-date scientific ones.
- Boulenger's Asian Tree Toad (mislabelled: Dyeing Poison Frog/1996: Dendrobates a. histrionica) - Pedostibes hosii.

[brontodocus]

Ah, so it seems my version of the Pedostibes hosii is from 1998 then.

Okay, something I often wanted to do but always seemed to forget... somehow I never really brought up photos in this thread. But I have some to contribute. I'll try to arrange them more or less taxonomically. I'll start with the more primitive salientians.

†Protobatrachidae

†Triadobatrachus massinoti (Piveteau, 1936). Play Visions Prehistoric Amphibians. Length 36 mm, scale approx. 1:3. Technically this is an outgroup to the Anura but it's a member of the more inclusive Salientia.

Archaeobatrachia: Alytidae (formerly Discoglossidae)

Alytes obstetricans (Laurenti, 1768); Common Midwife Toad, male carrying eggs. 3B Scientific No. VN707. Snout-vent length approx. 39 mm, scale 1:1. Walk-around

Mesobatrachia:
Pipidae - Tongueless Frogs

Pipa pipa (Linnaeus, 1758); Surinam Toad or Star-fingered Toad. Agatsuma Entertainment. Length 44 mm, scale approx. 1: 2.3 - 1:4.3. Walk-around by stemturtle

Megophryidae - Litter Frogs

Megophrys nasuta (Schlegel, 1858); Malaysian Horned Toad. Furuta Choco Egg Funny Animals Series 7 No. 30. Length 40 mm, scale approx. 1:2 - 1:3.
I also have the (better) Yujin and Colorata versions, too, which were shown further up in the thread.

Neobatrachia:
Bufonidae - True Toads

Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758); Common Toad, female. 3B Scientific No. VN708/2. Snout-vent length 72.5 mm, scale 1:1. Walk-around


Bufo japonicus japonicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1838; Japanese Common Toad. Kitan Club Nature Techni Colour Frogs No. 7. Length 68 mm, scale approx. 1:1.2 - 1:2.5. The ssp. japonicus is said to have a smaller tympanum than B. j. formosus Boulenger, 1883, which was made by Yujin (photo by sauroid further up the thread, this figure has indeed a larger tympanum than the Kitan Club figure!). Walk-around


Rhinella marina (Linnaeus, 1758); formerly Bufo marinus; Cane Toad. Safari Ltd. Venomous Creatures. Length 51 mm, scale approx. 1:2 - 1:4.5. Walk-around by tyrantqueen


cf. Bufotes or Pseudepidalea (formerly Bufo) viridis (Laurenti, 1768); European Green Toad. Nature's Wonders HD. Length 70 mm, scale roughly 1:1.

More neobatrachians to come...

[stemturtle]

Nice selection, brontodocus. Whenever I see a photo of the proto-frog Triadobatrachus, the word "darling" comes to mind. Play Visions at its best.

[brontodocus]

Nice selection, brontodocus. Whenever I see a photo of the proto-frog Triadobatrachus, the word "darling" comes to mind. Play Visions at its best.

Thanks, stemturtle! Hehe, yes, it's really sweet. And looks like it's made of blueberry pie or something.

More neobatrachians (I know, image heavy, that's why I split it up in three posts):

Ceratophryidae (Horned Frogs)


Ceratophrys cranwelli Barrio, 1980, Chacoan Horned Frog or "Pacman Frog". Above: Furuta Choco Egg Animals Series 2 No. 39, length 38 mm, scale approx. 1:3. Below: metamorphosing tadpole. Kaiyodo ChocoQ Animatales Pets Series 5 model No. 147, green variant. Length 56 mm, snout-vent length 27 mm, scale approx. 1:1. I believe both are identified as C. ornata by the manufacturer.


Ceratophrys ornata Bell, 1843; Argentinian or Ornate Horned Frog or "Ornate Pacman Frog". Yujin The Frogs in Colour Series 1 No. 11, length 40 mm, scale approx. 1:2.2 - 1:3.2. This indeed looks like a proper C. ornata.

Dendrobatidae - Poison Dart Frogs

Epipedobates tricolor (Boulenger, 1899); Phantasmal Poison Frog. K&M. Length 40 mm, scale approx. 1:0.5.


Amereega (syn. Dendrobates) cf. bilinguis (Jungfer, 1989); Equadorian Poison Frog (other ids may be possible, too). Play Visions. Length 41 mm, scale approx. 1:0.5.


Oophaga histrionica (Berthold, 1845); Harlequin Poison Frog. Stamped "Atelopus varius" which is a bufonid with similar colours but a different body shape. Play Visions. Length 39 mm, scale roughly 1:1.


Ophaga histrionica lehmanni (Myers & Daly, 1976); Lehmann's Poison Frog. Play Visions.



Oophaga pumilio (Schmidt, 1857); Strawberry Poison Frog. Top: Bastimentos color variant. Takara Kaiyodo ChocoQ Animatales Amazing Animals! Ver. - secret figure. Length 25 mm, scale approx. 1:0.7 - 1:1. Below: Kaiyodo CapsuleQ Museum Toxic and Dangerous Animals model. Length 37.5 mm, scale approx. 1:0.5. The two poison dart frogs from the series (D. leucomelas, see below, and O. pumilio) are identical sculpts with different colouration.



Dendrobates leucomelas Steindachner, 1869; Vellow-banded Poison Dart Frog. Top: Furuta Choco Egg Funny Animals Series 7 model No. 29. Length 35 mm, scale approx. 1:1. Below: Kaiyodo CapsuleQ Museum Toxic and Dangerous Animals model. Length 37.5 mm, scale approx. 1:1.


Dendrobates cf. tinctorius (Schneider, 1799); Dyeing Poison-Arrow Frog (actually the figure's colours don't really match any dendrobatid I've seen). Nature's Wonders HD. Length 58 mm, scale approx. 1:0.5 - 1:0.8.


Dendrobates tinctorius (Schneider, 1799); Dyeing Poison-Arrow Frog. Yujin The Frogs in Colour No. 12. Length 30 mm, scale approx. 1:1 - 1:1.7.


Dendrobates tinctorius "azureus" (Hoogmoed, 1969); Blue Poison Dart Frog. K&M. Length 40 mm, scale approx. 1:0.8 - 1:1.1.


Ranitomeya fantastica (Boulenger, 1884 "1883"); Red-headed Poison Frog (Salientia: Dendrobatidae) K&M. Length 40 mm, scale approx. 1:0.5.

Hylidae - Tree Frogs

This one resembles White's Treefrog, Litoria caerulea (White, 1790). Safari Ltd Incredible Creatures, scale approx. 1:1. Originally named "Fuzzy Frog" and I don't know why they coated it in fuzz (and how to get this off).


Hyla japonica Günther, 1859; Japanese Tree Frog. Kitan Club Nature Techni Colour Frogs No. 1. Length 31 mm, scale approx. 1:0.8 - 1:1.5. Sauroid posted the Yujin version further up in the thread.




Agalychnis callidryas (Cope, 1862); Red-eyed Tree Frog. Top: Nature's Wonders HD. Length 87 mm, scale approx. 1:0.5 - 1:0.8. Middle: Furuta ChocoEgg Funny Animals Series 6 No. 07. Length 36 mm, scale approx. 1:1.4 - 1:2. Below: Safari Ltd. (they made several more figures of this species). Length 49 mm, scale approx. 1:1 - 1:1.5.


Dendropsophus ebraccatus (Cope, 1874); Hourglass Tree Frog. Nature's Wonders HD. Length 59 mm, scale approx. 1:0.4 - 1:0.6.


Dendropsophus leucophyllatus (Beireis, 1783). Safari Ltd. 1997. Length 62 mm, scale approx. 1:0.5 - 1:0.8. Stemturtle posted the Colorata version of this species further above.

Hemiphractidae (or, in this case, alternatively Amphignathodontidae) Horned Treefrogs and (or) marsupial frogs. All were formerly united in Hylidae.

cf. Gastrotheca sp.; a Marsupial Frog. Safari Ltd.1997. Length 63 mm, scale approx. 1:1.


Flectonotus (syn. Fritziana) sp.; a dwarf marsupial frog. Extracted from a bouncy ball by an unknown manufacturer. Snout-vent length 18 mm, scale approx. 1:1 - 1:2.

Microhylidae - Narrow-mouthed Frogs


Microhyla ornata (Duméril & Bibron, 1841); Ornate Narrow Mouthed Frog. Above: Yujin The Frogs in Colour Series 1 No. 6, length 31 mm, scale approx. 1:0.8 - 1:1. Below: "Microhyla okinavensis Stejneger, 1901"; a junior synonym of M. ornata after Matsui et al. (2005). Kitan Club Nature Techni Colour Frogs model No. 2, length 27 mm, scale approx. 1:0.8 - 1:1.1.


Dyscophus cf. antongilii Grandidier, 1877; Tomato Frog (Salientia: Microhylidae). K&M. Length 53 mm, scale approx. 1:2. At least that is what the figure is intended to be. The elongated glands on the back do not occur in Dyscophus and are reminscent of those in e.g. Pseudophryne and Pyxicephalus. The Colorata Dyscophus guineti stemturtle posted further up is a much better representative of a Tomato Frog.

Myobatrachidae - Australian Ground Frogs

†Rheobatrachus silus Liem, 1973; Gastric-brooding Frog or Platypus Frog. Yowies figure. Length 36 mm. Another possible  vernacular name would be "Brazilian Flag-eyed Frog" for this figure.

Still more to come (Ranidae & Rhacophoridae).