Mathison Museum of Natural History - Prehistoric Edition

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Redlichia rex Holmes et al., 2019

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: CollectA
Series: Prehistoric World
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length (exclusive of appendages) approximately 8.2 cm for a scale of 1:3 for a maximum-sized specimen
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure, along with Nautilus, Orthoceras, Pleuroceras, Limulus, and Passaloteuthis, launched a new direction for CollectA in large, high-quality prehistoric (or related) invertebrates! It would be followed up by a few others since then. Let's hope it continues!

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Lower Cambrian of present-day Australia
Habitat: Marine, benthopelagic
Diet: Hard-bodied benthic invertebrates, including possibly its own species (see below)
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Potential bite marks found on some fossils of R. rex suggest that larger individuals of the species fed on smaller individuals of its own species. Redlichia rex also fed on smaller trilobites of other species, such as its congener, R. takooensis.

[Halichoeres]

This figure, along with Nautilus, Orthoceras, Pleuroceras, Limulus, and Passaloteuthis, launched a new direction for CollectA in large, high-quality prehistoric (or related) invertebrates! It would be followed up by a few others since then. Let's hope it continues!

Hear, hear! I personally find the Redlichia particularly useful since I have a bunch of game miniatures of Cambrian animals in a similar scale. So it has plenty to eat.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Borealopelta markmitchelli Brown et al., 2017

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: PNSO
Series: Prehistoric Animal Models
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length approximately 18.5 cm for a scale of 1:30
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: In 2019, CollectA also produced a standard-sized version of this species. Both figures are generally comparable in quality and accuracy, so one can't really go wrong with either. However, CollectA's is likely to be less expensive! If anyone is curious, the paint is not coming off on my model; the white seen are glares (the paint has a rather glossy finish).

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early Cretaceous (Albian) of present-day Canada
Habitat: Open forests, fern meadows
Diet: Vegetation; especially ferns
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Examination of the stomach contents preserved in the type specimen of B. markmitchelli suggests a fern-rich diet and it has been speculated that Borealopelta may have been a highly selective feeder of ferns.

[Halichoeres]

Amazing that they got gut contents. Also nice job including ferns in the backdrop!

[postsaurischian]

  What a wonderful picture! The figure has never looked so good.

[bmathison1972]

Amazing that they got gut contents. Also nice job including ferns in the backdrop!

Yes this was the perfect diorama background for this figure. The figure was almost too long for it (it's not much wider than what you see here) but I got it to work!

What a wonderful picture! The figure has never looked so good.

Thank you 

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Platyhystrix rugosus (Case, 1910)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Play Visions
Series: Prehistoric Amphibians
Year of Production: 1998
Size/Scale: Figure length 7.2 cm. Using the skull as a metric (n=1.5 cm), scale comes to approximately 1:12.7
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: This is one of several unique species in Play Visions' Prehistoric Amphibians collection (although nothing in the set is well represented in the toy/figure realm). This is one of the most popular and sought-after sets by Play Visions! Many of Play Visions' figures were based on popular books at the time. In this case, the sculpts and paint jobs for the Prehistoric Amphibians were based on the original 1998 edition of the Macmillan Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Late Pennsylvanian (Gzhelian) to Early Permian of present-day southwestern North America
Habitat: Swamp forests
Diet: Arthropods, worms, other amphibians, other small vertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Platyhystrix rugosus possessed a sail on its back, much like the contemporary synapsids Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus. Given that such a feature is seen in different taxa in the same era, it probably represents convergent evolution for some environmental pressure. A likely theory is that the sail was used for thermoregulation, but any of the theories applied to Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus could easily apply to Platyhistrix as well, including sexual display and species regulation, fat storage, or intimidating would-be predators.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Pholiderpeton attheyi (Watson, 1926)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Play Visions
Series: Prehistoric Amphibians
Year of Production: 1998
Size/Scale: Raw figure length 7.5 cm. Measured along the midline, the body comes to approximately 12.0 cm for a scale of 1:33. Using skull as a metric (n=2.0 cm) scale comes to 1:20.5, but it's been noted that the head is oversized in this figure.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was marketed as Eogyrinus, which was synonymized with Pholiderpeton in 1987.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early Pennsylvanian (Bashkirian) of the present-day British Isles
Habitat: Subtropical coal swamps
Diet: Fish, amphibians, other aquatic and semi-aquatic tetrapods, invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: There is debate on whether P. attheyi was fully aquatic, semi-aquatic, or fully terrestrial (at least as an adult).

[Halichoeres]

Big heads and miniatures tend to go hand-in-hand! This was the Play Visions figure that took me longest to find, congrats on scaring it up!

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Procynosuchus delaharpeae Broom, 1937

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Bullyland
Series: Wolfgang Bonhage-Museum Korbach
Year of Production: 2006
Size/Scale: Body length approximately 10.0 cm for a maximum scale of 1:6
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was made exclusively for, and based on a model at, the Wolfgang Bonhage-Museum in Korbach, Germany. It is a somewhat outdated construction; the animal is now believed to be more mammal-like, possibly with fur, and semi-aquatic.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Upper Permian (Wuchiapingian) of present-day southern Africa and Germany
Habitat: Swamp forests and other riparian areas
Diet: Fish, aquatic invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: More recent reconstructions of Procynosuchus show it as being more mammal-like, akin to an otter with fur, a flexible tail, and possibly webbing between the toes. It may have had a lifestyle similar to otters as well, hunting fish and aquatic invertebrates in swamps and other freshwater habitats.

[Halichoeres]

The days when Bullyland collaborated with museums produced such a great array of taxa.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Atlasaurus imelakei Monbaron et al., 1999

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Eofauna
Series: 1:35 Scale Dinosaurs
Year of Production: 2019
Size/Scale: Figure approx. 22.5 cm tall by 30 cm wide. Using humerus as a metric (n=5.5 cm) scale comes to approx. 1:35.5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Not much to say about a figure that is relatively recent, unique for its species, and very well done. I've wondered if the paint job was inspired by the ring-necked snake.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Middle Jurassic (Bathonian-Callovian) of present-day northern Africa
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical open forests and neighboring alluvial plains
Diet: Plants
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: The phylogenetic relationships of Atlasaurus are still not fully understood. It was originally classified as a cetiosaur although later it was allied with the brachiosaurs. In 2015 it was regarded as a turiasaur. The most recent analysis, in 2020, recovers Altasaurus as a brachiosaurid.

[Halichoeres]

Still my favorite EoFauna figure.

[oscars_dinos]

Still my favorite EoFauna figure.

I remember seeing somewhere that this figure was far from 1/35th scale is that true

[Concavenator]

Still my favorite EoFauna figure.

I remember seeing somewhere that this figure was far from 1/35th scale is that true

Eofauna's sauropods are in 1:40 scale. For reference: http://www.eofauna.com/figures

And theirs is a case of their figures matching the advertised scales.

They also said this:

we have decided to go for the 1:35 scale for future models (at least for Proboscideans and large theropods, big sauropods should be in 1:40).

Ever since, they've also released a (potential) Triceratops, which is in 1:35 scale too. So it seems like 1:35 is usually their go-to scale, as has become common.

[Halichoeres]

Agreed. The exact measurement that I got based on limb elements was 1:37.1, so it's quite at home in a 1:35 or 1:40 display.

[oscars_dinos]

Agreed. The exact measurement that I got based on limb elements was 1:37.1, so it's quite at home in a 1:35 or 1:40 display.

been wondering if it would look good with my pnso's, the proportions and girth look a lil odd on this figure but I think that's just how the animal looked right?

[Concavenator]

the proportions and girth look a lil odd on this figure but I think that's just how the animal looked right?

Yes.

[oscars_dinos]

the proportions and girth look a lil odd on this figure but I think that's just how the animal looked right?

Yes.

point taken lol... decisions decisions, I wonder how a pnso or hlg version of this dino would look, I feel the more accurate they become the more similar they become, which is not a bad thing to me

[Concavenator]

@oscars_dinos Good luck waiting for a PNSO or HLG Atlasaurus, you'll need it!