The Other Orthopteroids: Mantids, Roaches, Termites, Stick Insects, & Kin

brontodocus · December 07, 2013, 10:49:25 PM

Walk-around of the Science and Nature Animals of Australia (Large Replicas) Lord Howe Island Stick Insect or "Tree Lobster", Dryococelus australis (Montrouzier, 1885). The figure represents a female (males would have hind legs with much stronger femora). Length from head to end of abdomen is 90 mm so the scale is approx. between 1:1.3 to 1:1.4. Since it's quite close to life size but still outside of the species size range I would have preferred if it had been made in proper natural size. There are also some inaccuracies, the figure has one abdominal segment too many and only four tarsal segments on each foot instead of five.

The Lord Howe Stick Insect is an example of a Lazarus taxon, a species that has been considered extinct and then rediscovered alive. In this case, the species was considered extinct since about 1930 and in 2001 a tiny population of 24 individuals was found to have survived near a single Melaleuca howeana shrub on Ball's Pyramid off Lord Howe Island. A breeding program had been started and the Melbourne Zoo already reared over 9,000 individuals so the species will probably survive in captivity but the extremely small wild population is considered "Critically Endangered" by IUCN.

Here is a link to the figure at Science and Nature's website: http://www.scienceandnature.com.au/Animals-of-Australia_3/Large-Replicas/Lord-Howe-Island-Stick-Insect

Edit 2017-02-07: Fixed broken image urls.

Jetoar · December 08, 2013, 12:41:27 AM

I think that it is very curious to see a figure of this rare specie. I like that they have decided to do this figure

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bmathison1972 · March 03, 2015, 10:23:36 PM

Time to start a taxonomic thread for the mantids, roaches, and termites. I'll start with my smaller figures, this of course not everything I have (esp. when you throw in the bin-style figures!).

ALL PHOTOBUCKET LINKS REMOVED

sbell · March 03, 2015, 10:52:25 PM

Very nice. I always run into problems with lighting on these kinds of figures--I often wind up with ones using a flash, no flash, and different ambient lighting. Sometimes it makes a difference. Sometimes the pictures are always terrible@

brontodocus · March 08, 2015, 12:23:20 PM

Great figures, Blaine!

I may add a few later (e.g. PV Blepharopsis mendica nymph and Kabaya Insect Directory Hymenopus coronatus) But I'm also quite envious about the Hissing Cockroaches. The K&M figure was part of a playset, wasn't it? I think I haven't seen it offered as a single figure, yet. Thinking of photos with or without flashlight, your awesome new dioramas provide a very dark background so I think you would usually have to use a good light source if you want to photograph the figures without flashlight. In most cases I use a flexible desk lamp with a 10.5 W LED bulb.

Jetoar · March 08, 2015, 12:43:15 PM

Really awesome post. I didn´t know that I can see differents figures of a lot of species of Mantis

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bmathison1972 · March 08, 2015, 12:47:15 PM

Quote from: brontodocus on March 08, 2015, 12:23:20 PM
Great figures, Blaine! I may add a few later (e.g. PV Blepharopsis mendica nymph and Kabaya Insect Directory Hymenopus coronatus) But I'm also quite envious about the Hissing Cockroaches. The K&M figure was part of a playset, wasn't it? I think I haven't seen it offered as a single figure, yet. Thinking of photos with or without flashlight, your awesome new dioramas provide a very dark background so I think you would usually have to use a good light source if you want to photograph the figures without flashlight. In most cases I use a flexible desk lamp with a 10.5 W LED bulb.

The K&M hissing roach was part of a set, but it was given to me individually via trade, so I do not know if this is from the tube or polyvinyl bag set. There is a slight size difference, I believe, but without both for comparison I am not sure.

sbell · March 08, 2015, 03:15:27 PM

Quote from: bmathison1972 on March 08, 2015, 12:47:15 PM
Quote from: brontodocus on March 08, 2015, 12:23:20 PM
Great figures, Blaine! I may add a few later (e.g. PV Blepharopsis mendica nymph and Kabaya Insect Directory Hymenopus coronatus) But I'm also quite envious about the Hissing Cockroaches. The K&M figure was part of a playset, wasn't it? I think I haven't seen it offered as a single figure, yet. Thinking of photos with or without flashlight, your awesome new dioramas provide a very dark background so I think you would usually have to use a good light source if you want to photograph the figures without flashlight. In most cases I use a flexible desk lamp with a 10.5 W LED bulb.

The K&M hissing roach was part of a set, but it was given to me individually via trade, so I do not know if this is from the tube or polyvinyl bag set. There is a slight size difference, I believe, but without both for comparison I am not sure.

It would make sense that it was part of the Madagscar tube, which is now discontinued.

stemturtle · June 18, 2015, 07:48:37 PM

King termite (Funrise Toys), total length about 2 3/16 inches or 5.5 cm.

This is the only figure of a termite that I have; order Blattodea, infraorder Isoptera. It is one of 24 figures from the World of Nature Insect Collection, 1989. The scientific name was not provided. I was lucky to find this set on eBay to get the whip scorpion and sheep tick. Thanks to bmathison1972 for informing us about this brand.

brontodocus · June 19, 2015, 08:47:37 PM

Very cool termite figure, stemturtle!

Some of those Funrise figures are really good.

Jetoar · June 22, 2015, 06:37:39 PM

Termites are uncommon figures

bmathison1972 · February 10, 2016, 10:23:00 PM

My happy termite family: Funrise Toys, Wild Kratts, and an unknown figure (that was propped on a set of wheels before I removed them)

PHOTOBUCKET LINK REMOVED

Jetoar · February 11, 2016, 02:31:02 PM

I have the same termite with wheels. It is my first termite figure.

bmathison1972 · April 09, 2016, 06:12:43 PM

Walk-around of an impressive walking stick insect, gen. sp. by Imperial Toys (1998). I have never seen this figure before!! I stumbled upon it on eBay, bid the minimum of $3.49, and won it (I had a max bid of $20 but luckily won it on the minimum).

The figure was produced by Imperial Toys in 1998, probably following the Smithsonian bandwagon in the late 1990s. I have never seen this figure before and was lucky to stumble upon it on eBay!

The figure is large; the body (without appendages) is 6.5 inches (16.5 cm). It has a simple body plan but some good detail, especially in the leg armature and copulatory organs (see last image for the latter). I am not a specialist on this group, so if it is attributable to known species, I am not immediately familiar with it (but will be snooping around more!).

EDIT: maybe represents Megaphasma denticrus (Stal, 1875)?

sphyrna18 · April 13, 2016, 12:21:10 AM

NICE FIND, BLAINE!!!!! I WANT!!! Holy Cow! I don't even know where to start, but if you stumble upon any more of them I'd love to know about it... Such a simple creature, yet no companies seem interested in making them - and kids seem to be genuinely fascinated by them, too! Really great find!

bmathison1972 · April 13, 2016, 12:39:24 AM

Quote from: sphyrna18 on April 13, 2016, 12:21:10 AM
NICE FIND, BLAINE!!!!! I WANT!!! Holy Cow! I don't even know where to start, but if you stumble upon any more of them I'd love to know about it... Such a simple creature, yet no companies seem interested in making them - and kids seem to be genuinely fascinated by them, too! Really great find!

my thoughts exactly when I saw it on ebay; I would have been really disappointed if I didn't win it!!! I'm still pulling it off the shelf and looking at it from time to time! haha

brontodocus · April 27, 2016, 09:49:55 PM

Oh wow, that's a great find, Blaine!

Jetoar · April 27, 2016, 10:24:19 PM

Really nice figure Blaine

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bmathison1972 · October 22, 2016, 05:25:20 PM

Walk-around of a mantid made by Jasman Toys.

I recently bought (won) this on eBay. I didn't know the brand at the time I bought it and based on its size (23 cm head to abdomen, and 12 cm tall) I thought it might be another Imperial Toys figure. But, under one of the middle legs is Jasman (in cursive) and China (no date, but I am assuming late 1990s).

The figure is hard plastic; the wings are lighter and appear to attach individually (possibly removable--I didn't try). Under the wings there is some ventation, although probably not accurate.

As I said it is very large (see the last image for comparison of other large figures).

By the way, I had to buy two of them, so I have another if anyone wants to trade!

Again, not familiar with this company, so on to the pics.

Jasman
Safari LTD (Smithsonian Insects)
Safari LTD (Hidden Kingdom)
K&M - Wild Republic (Insects Polybag)

Roger · October 24, 2016, 08:35:19 PM

That's an impressive figure with a very respectable size. I did know before about Jasman but surely I was not aware of this mantis figure. The joy of finding something that nobody knows is that it may guide us to something even more fantastic. For instance, as you mentioned it could be an Imperial, I have found your impressive walking stick, another figure that may be the tip of the iceberg. I added this mantis on Toy Animal Wiki, crediting picture as yours, of course. I may use later also the picture of the walking stick but I'll investigate a little before.

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The Other Orthopteroids: Mantids, Roaches, Termites, Stick Insects, & Kin