The best figure of every species, according to Halichoeres

[Halichoeres]

One would expect there to be at least a deceng amount of Sharovipteryx figurines in the market due to its bizarre yet fascinating wing structure.  I recall hearing its aviation method was even more efficient than Pterosaurs, but I am not sure where I heard this or I should even be regurgitating thks information.
Still, the niche diaspora of non-archosaur archosaurimorphs is amongst my favorite chapters of the history of life.

As for the invertebrates and fishes, I am glad you were able to find those generae, and if it was not for Paleozoo I think these are your only chance at finding these generae(of course, we should be more optimistic haha). Learning about what get left out of prehistoric textbooks is almost analogous to observing a new world. So much diversity on incomprehensible levels exists below our noses!

I don't know anything about the flight mechanics of Sharovipteryx, but it works for delta-wing aircraft...

Paleozoo is very helpful, although a bit expensive too. And even with small-batch artisans like that, this Kabaya set tripled the number of decapods in my collection!

Really surprised that Kaiyodo hasn't at least made a Sharovipteryx. Maybe CollectA will, one day. Or Mattel, lol. 

You know what, I'd buy a Mattel version. Given the scale, I imagine I'd be buying some Jeep and a Velociraptor along with it.

The arthropods here don't tempt you, huh? Maybe the Rheic version will be more up your alley.

I'm...kinda of shocked to realize that Sharovipteryx doesn't have any other toys made of it? It really seems like it should have a few, it's such an interesting weirdo. I guess I thought Kaiyodo or another Japanese company would have done it by now.

I like the simplicity of these little figures. They don't have a lot of detail, but the shapes are all pleasing.

It's wild that there isn't one. I can't think of a prehistoric glider that's been done really well by a modern company, although most of the famous ones have been done as novelties. The overall theme is ripe for the miniature treatment.

And yeah, these do have their charm, although they wouldn't be my preferred format, obviously. They are well-designed for what they are.

Thanks @Faelrin and @Avian for the info on that. I have one Rheic model (the Ctenacanthus) and I was distinctly unimpressed. It arrived broken, and its design was wildly inaccurate, closer to a Cladoselache. The base was scarcely half-thought-out, including nondescript fishes that made no sense chronologically. That said, this Callichimaera looks much more accurate. I don't generally buy resin models for invertebrates, but that one is actually pretty reasonably priced. But of course there's a good chance it would show up broken. I also noticed in those listings that they make a Titanichthys, but it looks like the postcranial portions were modeled after the ThinkArt Dunkleosteus, which means it resembles an actual placoderm very little.

As for 3D prints, as @SBell says there are lots of options. I printed my Ctenurella through Shapeways, although I work with a cooperative that runs their own printers now, so at some point I'm going to print out a big batch. It does enable a ton of variety, although I limit myself to fishes because keeping up with all the dinosaurs and mammals is just too daunting (and expensive).

[Birdsage]

Day 23:

The Penguin's Lunch great auk. Like the army truck, its bag was open.

Is this available?

[Halichoeres]

Hi B @Birdsage, I am interested in selling the entire calendar, but I would prefer not to sell individual pieces because I'll inevitably be stuck with, say, a skeleton with curling equipment. If you're willing to take the whole lot I'm happy to part with it.

[Halichoeres]

When I started collecting 8 years ago, I was in grad school, and since then I've moved three times paying my dues as an early career academic. In those moves, my cheap IKEA bookcases took a real beating. Between the pandemic and general indecision on my part, I hadn't replaced them, so a big chunk of my collection was just sitting in boxes in the guest room closet. Last month I finally had a pair of glass-fronted retail display cases delivered, and over spring break I had time to populate them. They're now housing about 55% of my collection in roughly 5m² of wall space. That left enough room elsewhere for everything else, so for the first time in more than five years I have my whole collection on display at once, which feels pretty good!

The new display cases:


Overall, my collection now consists of 904 items, representing 842 unique taxa. This year I broke three digits: 101 different companies with releases spanning about 68 years. But half my collection is from just 5 sources:
185 Oumcraft
98  Safari Ltd
88  CollectA
60  Kaiyodo
56  PNSO
I expect PNSO to surpass Kaiyodo this year if they ever get out of their carcharodontosaurid rut.

And now some photos of the shelves. I still sort primarily by scale (in a pretty relaxed way) and then chronologically.



Smaller than 1:50. The Ruyangosaurus could actually fit okay with the 1:40 figures, but it works here too as a generic giant titanosaur.




1:4 - 1:7. There's a lot of empty space on this shelf because I'm planning to move my BotM dromaeosaurs back from my office. At least they'll have some ugly little ceratopsians to hunt.


1:3 - 1:7 Paleozoic stuff


~1:30 Paleozoic and Triassic


~1:30 Jurassic and Cretaceous


1:3 - 1:7 Paleozoic on the left; ~1:30 Paleozoic - early Jurassic on the right. I left plenty of room on this shelf and nearby shelves, too, because PNSO's releases tend to fall in the 1:30 range and I don't expect them to let up. Although they're overwhelmingly Cretaceous, which means these guys will be shifted left with new additions.


~1:30 Jurassic and Cretaceous





~1:30 Cretaceous


~1:40 Carboniferous - Jurassic


~1:40 Jurassic. The Giraffatitan is too tall for the space allotted, but the shelves are far enough back from the sliding glass doors that it can just peek in on the next level.



~1:40 aquatics, from the Ordovician to the Cretaceous




~1:40 Cretaceous


~1:2 aquatics, Cambrian - Cretaceous


~1:10 aquatics, Cambrian - Cretaceous


~1:2 landlubbers



~1:10 landlubbers, Silurian to Cretaceous. I think this shelf has the distinction of representing the largest number of companies, with 23.


Up top are some oversize sauropods.


And most of my JW collection. For this angle I had to stand on a stepladder. They are barely visible from the floor, which is fitting.

Leaving the new display cases, here's the curio cabinet with all my life-size stuff:








Larger than life.


Much larger than life.


~1:3 aquatics


~1:3 landlubbers


~1:15 Cretaceous


~1:15 Triassic - Cretaceous


~1:15 Paleozoic


~1:15 aquatics


~1:20 Cretaceous


~1:20 Jurassic


~1:20 Triassic


~1:20 Mesozoic


~1:20 Paleozoic

It's great to finally be able to enjoy these whenever I like. Some of them I haven't seen since late 2017 because they've been in a box the whole time.

[Stegotyranno420]

Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed these views

[ceratopsian]

It's a magnificent collection, displayed with thought. It must be so satisfying to be reunited with everything after so long. The cabinets look very classy. I had noticed Giraffotitan escaping the confines of his shelf and thought the glass placement was very helpful for inconveniently tall sauropods!

[Faelrin]

I can't imagine all the work that took. You must be feeling relieved now (and with how long some of those were boxed up). What an insane collection too. So much diversity, from animals, to companies, to scale, time periods, etc. Boggles my mind at how much is really out there.

Once I'm back to having internet on, I'll give those a good look on my PC.

[TooOldForDinosaurs]

I love your extensive aquatic collection.

[Gwangi]

The fishes and invertebrates are the definite highlight of your collection, not surprisingly. Congrats on being able to display your entire collection!

With my own collection people are generally impressed and appreciate the "museum-like" aesthetic of the figures from PNSO, EoFauna, CollectA, Safari, etc. but then recoil in shock over the comparatively garish figures from Marx, Mold-A-Rama, etc. They don't understand why I display "cheap" brightly colored toys with lifelike figurines. I imagine you must get similar reactions to your own collection.

[Pliosaurking]

Phenomenal collection and display!!!

[Georassic]

A world-class collection!

[Fembrogon]

That is a magnificent display for sure! I look forward to the day when I can unbox all of my items too, so you have my sympathies as well as my congratulations!

[Crackington]

Completely agree with the above, great to see your whole collection, simply brilliant.

I was pleased to see the odd golden oldie surviving in there too, like the Aurora cycad. Like Gwangi, I'm intrigued to know what reaction they get when people spot them among all the more accurate modern models.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for visiting and commenting, everyone!

It's a magnificent collection, displayed with thought. It must be so satisfying to be reunited with everything after so long. The cabinets look very classy. I had noticed Giraffotitan escaping the confines of his shelf and thought the glass placement was very helpful for inconveniently tall sauropods!

Thank you! The shelves are adjustable, but if I'd given the Giraffatitan head clearance, it would have cramped all the shelves above, so I was glad for the little gap! I couldn't quite make the PNSO Euhelopus work, though, and if I had the Battat Diplodocus it would have been similarly difficult.

I can't imagine all the work that took. You must be feeling relieved now (and with how long some of those were boxed up). What an insane collection too. So much diversity, from animals, to companies, to scale, time periods, etc. Boggles my mind at how much is really out there.

Once I'm back to having internet on, I'll give those a good look on my PC.

Oh, I'd hardly call it work! But it certainly took some effort, a labor of love I guess. There really is a lot out there, but if you're after oddball species it can take some doing to track them down.

The fishes and invertebrates are the definite highlight of your collection, not surprisingly. Congrats on being able to display your entire collection!

With my own collection people are generally impressed and appreciate the "museum-like" aesthetic of the figures from PNSO, EoFauna, CollectA, Safari, etc. but then recoil in shock over the comparatively garish figures from Marx, Mold-A-Rama, etc. They don't understand why I display "cheap" brightly colored toys with lifelike figurines. I imagine you must get similar reactions to your own collection.

I really love my fish and invertebrates.

I was pleased to see the odd golden oldie surviving in there too, like the Aurora cycad. Like Gwangi, I'm intrigued to know what reaction they get when people spot them among all the more accurate modern models.

Yeah, as you both observe, there is some stylistic contrast on most shelves. The Aurora plants honestly don't strike me as wildly out-of-place, but then there's the Dinosaur Train and Go Diego Go figures, or the various Italian rubber figures, or frankly the Mattel JW figures. When visitors are looking over the collection, the typical response, if any, to one of those uglier figures is something like, "What's up with that guy?", to which my answer is, "That's the only one there is of [genus X]." So my collection isn't mixed for the same reason as yours are--I am not especially nostalgic and I don't seek out vintage figures to complete lines or anything--but the effect is similar!

That is a magnificent display for sure! I look forward to the day when I can unbox all of my items too, so you have my sympathies as well as my congratulations!

Thank you! May the day you can bask in the full glory of your own collection come soon!

I love your extensive aquatic collection.

I only wish they all came with stands! I have a few less-than-elegant solutions for keeping them all from languishing in the benthos.

[Concavenator]

It was a joy to see your new display with the cabinet. Every time I see one of those it makes me jealous. 

[Halichoeres]

It was a joy to see your new display with the cabinet. Every time I see one of those it makes me jealous. 

Thank you! Before I got mine, I had a little display case envy looking at other threads too...

Today, trilobites of the Devonian! These are all from the Life... game and designed by Oammararak. The painted versions were completed in 2022.


Dicranurus
Scale: 1:1 – 1:2
Early Devonian
Etymology: Gr. "pitchfork tail"
One of the most ornate of the odontopleurid ("tooth-sided") trilobites, an absolutely spectacular animal. Years ago, a company called Master Fossil showed a prototype for a gorgeous Dicranurus figure, but they seem to have gone out of business after producing just a T. rex. This is a pretty good substitute, although the animal's form is so intricate that I think it still deserves treatment in a format that can do justice to its many spines.


There are no freshwater trilobites, but you can imagine all those spines impeding a similar placoderm out in the littoral zone.


Harpes
Scale: 1:3
Late Silurian – Late Devonian
Etymology: Gr. harpe, a sickle-like weapon
The trilobite that looks like a spaceship, with a broad, perforated (though invisibly so at this scale) glabella possibly used for filter feeding. I also have a life-size one of these from Paleocasts (Patrick May). A very distinctive genus, no trilobite collection is complete without one!


Erbenochile
Scale: 1:3
Early – Middle Devonian
Etymology: Gr. "[Heinrich Karl] Erben's lip," split from the related genus Odontochile where the name makes a lot more sense
Erbenochile is known for its insane eyes, which are up to 18 lenses tall and wrap around the front and back for a 360 view all around. Its vision is obstructed above by a sort of visor, which has been interpreted as evidence that it was diurnal (otherwise why shade the eyes?). Throw in a row of spines down the midline, and you have another very distinctive trilobite.


I think these both could theoretically have encountered Cephalaspis, and I expect they'd have all coexisted pretty peacefully.


Walliserops
Scale: 1:4 – 1:5
Early – Middle Devonian
Etymology: Gr. "[Otto H.] Walliser face" (to my knowledge, Walliser's face was not so adorned)
The trilobite with the cat o' three tails on its face. It was long speculated that this bizarre protrusion was a sexually selected feature, similar to the horns and spines on the pronotum of some beetles, but it's very difficult to tell from fossils alone. Earlier this year, a paper was published describing a malformed individual with a four-tined rather than three-tined 'trident.' The authors concluded that its ability to survive to adulthood with that deformity suggested that the protuberance was a sexual trait rather than a feeding- or defense-related one. The paper was peer edited and reviewed by two members of my dissertation committee, which is fun!


I think Groenlandaspis could have crunched it up, regardless of the number of tines on its face.


Huntoniatonia
Scale: 1:6 – 1:8
Early Devonian
Etymology: After Hunton, Oklahoma.
This spindle-shaped trilobite was originally called Huntonia, but hilariously renamed after it was realized that the shorter name was preoccupied by a woodlouse. It's impossible to say this name without sounding like you're stumbling on it. Anyway, this photo session just drives home what an excellent job Oammararak did of getting a good cross section of the morphological diversity of trilobites.


Another impossible meet-up between a freshwater fish and a marine invertebrate.


Terataspis
Scale: 1:30
Early Devonian
Etymology: Gr. "monster shield"
Another bizarre trilobite from their second heyday, before the late Devonian extinctions whittled them down to a handful of lineages that limped through to the end of the Permian. Imagine finding this half-meter long beast while wading at the beach. Or imagine stepping on it!


Its huge size illustrated by the in-scale Kaiyodo Cladoselache.

[Crackington]

Wonderful trilobites and I agree that O @Oammararak really captured their diversity well in her Game of Life figures.

This put me in mind of Prof Richard Fortey's excellent "Trilobite!" book from a few years back. It opened my eyes to the sheer range of the group as well as providing a great primer to the history of their discovery.

The "beetles of the palaeozoic" indeed!

[triceratops83]

I'm a bit late but those glass cases really do a service to your spectacular collection. Truly impressive.

Imagine finding this half-meter long beast while wading at the beach. Or imagine stepping on it!

Your comment on the Terataspis reminds me of stonefish or some other local annoying sea creature you have to watch out for when wading here. I guess a trilobite probably wouldn't have venomous spines though.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for stopping by!

This put me in mind of Prof Richard Fortey's excellent "Trilobite!" book from a few years back. It opened my eyes to the sheer range of the group as well as providing a great primer to the history of their discovery.

The "beetles of the palaeozoic" indeed!

I actually don't have that book, but I have two others by Fortey that give more-than-passing nods to trilobites. And I have a book, more of a collection of papers, called "Fabulous Fossils" about trilobites. Maybe I should try the one you're talking about too!

I'm a bit late but those glass cases really do a service to your spectacular collection. Truly impressive.

Thank you! I'm very happy with them.

Imagine finding this half-meter long beast while wading at the beach. Or imagine stepping on it!

Your comment on the Terataspis reminds me of stonefish or some other local annoying sea creature you have to watch out for when wading here. I guess a trilobite probably wouldn't have venomous spines though.

Haha, to call a stonefish merely 'annoying!' I looked into it and I could find no evidence that any trilobites were venomous. It might be tough to tell, though. With all that variety and all those hundreds of millions of years of chances, you'd think some of them might hit upon it.

Will update page 1 reference list presently.

[triceratops83]

Haha, to call a stonefish merely 'annoying!' I looked into it and I could find no evidence that any trilobites were venomous. It might be tough to tell, though. With all that variety and all those hundreds of millions of years of chances, you'd think some of them might hit upon it.

In my layman's view, I imagine if they did evolve venomous spines it would be later in their history, since it probably wouldn't be that effective against arthropod enemies. Probably be a good defense against fish and amphibians. Or earlier for that matter, what with predatory molluscs such as orthocones.