Mathison Museum of Natural History - Prehistoric Edition

[stargatedalek]

The open ocean fish set is still my favourite Colorata set.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Ceraurinella typa Cooper, 1953

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: The Study Room
Year of Production: 2004
Size/Scale: Base 6.5 cm long. Body length (excl. appendages) approx. 4.5. Using pygidium as a metric (n=1.5 cm), scale comes to approx. 2.5:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The figure is made of resin and the trilobite is permanently affixed to its base.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Middle Ordovician of present-day Canada
Habitat: Marine, benthic
Diet: Presumably scavenger or predator on soft-bodied benthic invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: I had difficulty finding information on this species, including helpful metrics to calculate its scale.

[Halichoeres]

Sad they never made a Triassic set. Could you imagine...

UGH I dream of it often.

Best set Colorata ever made.

  Not the Fossil fish box?

That's a beautiful set, and I own it, but 1) all or most of the species in it are available in another format, and 2) it is a bit of a misnomer. "Living fossil fish" I could see, but if I'm buying a "fossil fish" box I want it to be actual extinct fish.

Sorry to derail the thread, Blaine! I love that Ceraurinella, it's one of the very few non-fish resins I own.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Anomalocaris canadensis Whiteaves, 1892

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.
Series: The Great Old Sea
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length (excl. appendages) approx. 9.5 cm for a scale of 1:3.6-1:4
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the fourth time we've seen A. canadensis in the Museum. Minimal assembly is required and the final product has some articulations. Interestingly, this is one of the most accurate representations of this species available! The Great Old Sea collection, or variations of it, are released almost annually and an Anomalocaris was also released in 2022 (and possibly again since then, I've lost track). I am not sure whether or not it is the same sculpt with a repaint, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early to mid-Cambrian of present-day Canada
Habitat: Marine, pelagic
Diet: Presumably soft-bodied marine invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Anomalocaris canadensis is believed to have been a pelagic predator. It moved through the water column by undulating the flexible flaps along the side of its body. With each flap slightly sloped below the next one posterior to it, it allowed the line of flaps to function as a single long lateral fin, maximizing efficiency. Model reconstructions show this mode of swimming to be intrinsically stable.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Lingwulong shenqi Xu et al., 2018

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: PNSO
Series: Prehistoric Animal Models
Year of Production: 2022
Size/Scale: Total figure length approx. 49.0 cm. Using front right tibia as a metric (n=3.0 cm) scale comes to approx. 1:37.5 (see below)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: The scale above is calculated based on the front right tibia using the illustration in the original description. The species was described from individuals of different developmental stages so the scale above, assuming I did it right to begin with, should be taken with caution. It's probably fine for the advertised scale of 1:35.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early to Middle Jurassic (late Toarcian-Bajocian) of present-day East Asia
Habitat: Open coniferous and fern woodlands and adjacent riparian areas
Diet: Plants
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Lingwulong shenqi is believed to be one of the oldest known diplocodoids. It is currently placed basal in the family Dicraeosauridae and split from a shared ancestor with Dicraeosaurus and Amargasaurus in the late Toarcian (Jurassic) roughly 174 MYA.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Shringasaurus indicus Sengupta et al., 2017

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Wild Safari Prehistoric World
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 17.5 cm for a scale of 1:17-1:23. Using femur as a metric (n=1.2 cm), scale comes to approx. 1:22.5.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the second commercially-available figure of this species; the first was actually by forum member Jetoar for his Paleo-Creatures line. It has since been made, at least twice I believe, by Mattel for the Jurassic World line.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Middle Triassic (Anisian) of present-day India
Habitat: Semi-arid anabranching fluvial floodplains and adjacent open woodlands
Diet: Browser of vegetation, probably with a focus on leaves rather than stems or shoots
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Shringasaurus indicus is believed to have lived in large, multigenerational groups consisting of both sexes. The reptile is thought to have been sexually dimorphic and the supraorbital horns are believed to have belonged to only to one sex, presumably the male but we really don't know.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Malawisaurus dixeyi (Haughton, 1928)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Wild Safari Prehistoric World
Year of Production: 2018
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 37.0 cm for a scale of 1:29.7-1:40.5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Unique
Miscellaneous Notes: Not much to say about a relatively recent figure that's well done and unique for its species. This is one of my favorite color schemes on a Safari dinosaur figure. The scale above is based on a body length of 11-15 meters.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early Cretaceous (Aptian) of present-day East Africa
Habitat: Dense wetlands
Diet: Plants, primarily cycads and ferns
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: To date, confirmed fossils of Malawisaurus are known only from Africa. However, a single tooth from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) in Brazil might also belong to this genus. For now it's considered as Titanosauria indet., possibly Malawisaurus.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Olenoides serratus (Röminger, 1887)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: CollectA
Series: Prehistoric Marine Tube
Year of Production: 2017
Size/Scale: Body length (exclusive of appendages) approx. 4.0 cm for a scale of 1:1.8-1:2.5
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the second time we've seen O. serratus in the Museum. There was a brief burst of figures of this species between 2016 and 2020 with others by Favorite Co. (2016), Colorata (2017), and Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. (2020). The Takara figure was reissued in 2022 and possibly at least once more since.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Middle to Upper Cambrian of present-day North America
Habitat: Marine, nektobenthic
Diet: Benthic invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Some fossils of O serratus bear w-shaped wounds, some of which appear to be healing. It had been previously suggested that the wounds may have been caused by Anomalocaris; however, Anomalocaris is now believed to have been a predator of soft-bodied prey in the water column and not that of hard-bodied benthic invertebrates.

[Halichoeres]

It's really funny how so many companies converged on just one of the hundreds of known trilobite genera, when some of them could have been making stuff like Dicranurus.

[bmathison1972]

It's really funny how so many companies converged on just one of the hundreds of known trilobite genera, when some of them could have been making stuff like Dicranurus.

I think also because, at the time at least, the completeness of some of the fossils allowing knowledge of their soft and fleshy parts.

Next up:

Species: †Concavenator corcovatus Ortega et al., 2010

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Wild Safari Prehistoric World
Year of Production: 2020
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 17.0 cm for a scale of 1:29-1:35
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: This is Safari Ltd.'s second Concavenator, following the Carnegie Collection model from 2013.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of present-day Europe
Habitat: Subtropical wetlands and adjacent conifer and cycad woodlands
Diet: Small animals, including small mammals, reptiles, and other theropods
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: The most interesting feature of C. corcovatus is the caudal hump formed by two extremely tall vertebrae. The function of this hump is now known but is believed to have been for intraspecific communication and recognition or possibly as a thermoregulator.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Kosmoceratops richardsoni Sampson et al., 2010

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Haolonggood
Series: 1:35 Science and Art Model
Year of Production: 2023
Size/Scale: Figure length approx. 12.5 cm. for a scale of 1:36
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: Like all of Haolonggood's dinosaur's to date, this Kosmoceratops comes in two colors, the other being 'red'. I rarely seek out a specific color with Haolonggood's dinosaurs and usually just go with whatever appeals to me at the time of purchase.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of present-day western North America (Laramidia)
Habitat: Wet alluvial plains and adjacent swamplands and lakelands
Diet: Plants
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: There have been numerous phylogenetic analyses of the relationship between K. richardsoni and other chasmosaurine ceratopsids since it's description in 2010. It's generally accepted that Kosmoceratops and Vagaceratops are sister taxa in the Chasmosaurus lineage and may be directly descended from Chasmosaurus. Speciation may have occurred as populations migrated north to south.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Liopleurodon ferox Sauvage, 1873

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Wild Safari Prehistoric World
Year of Production: 2010
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 17.5 cm for a scale of 1:27.4-1:45.8 (see below)
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: Liopleurodon surged in popularity as toys and figures following an episode of Walking with Dinosaurs in 1999. That television depiction also spawned the color pattern we see here today, and a pattern was used for figures by Chap Mei, CollectA, Toyway, Geoworld, and Bullyland, to name a few. There have been very few figures of this species produced in the last 10-15 years. The scale above is calculated based on a body range of 4.8-8.0 meters.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Middle (Callovian) to Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian); probably in most seas and oceans of the time
Habitat: Pelagic
Diet: Fish, cephalopods, smaller marine reptiles (see below)
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Stomach contents of L. ferox have revealed the presence of hooklets of teuthoid cephalopods, fish bones, and reptilian teeth. Three suggests of the diet of L. ferox have been proposed. One is that it feed primarily on squid, although since it's assumed the speed of Liopleurodon is much slower than squid, this would have been unlikely unless the pliosaur was an ambush predator, which it probably was not. Another theory is that L ferox was an opportunistic feeder. The third theory is that L. ferox fed on large predators of cephalopods, and that the hooklets are residual from the alimentary canal of the pliosaur's prey.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Arborea arborea (Glaessner in Glaessner & Daily, 1959)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Safari Ltd.
Series: Cambrian TOOB
Year of Production: 2013
Size/Scale: Total figure height approx. 5.2 cm. Petalodium lengths range from 3.2-3.7 cm for a scale of 1:18.8-1:16.2
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This figure was marketed as Charniodiscus. However, looking at pics of several fossils online, the figure looks like it may have been inspired by a species now in the genus Arborea, and most probably A. arborea. Arborea was long considered synonymous with Charniodiscus (see below). I think the Yujin figure still represents true Charniodiscus, however.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Ediacaran; probably present in most oceans at the time
Habitat: Marine, benthic
Diet: Presumably filter feeder of planktonic organisms in the water column
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Arborea arborea was originally described in the genus Rangea in 1959. In 1966, the genus Arborea was described to accommodate it. In 1978, Arborea was synonymized with Charniodiscus. The type species of Charniodiscus, C. concentricus, has a multifoliate frond, whereas A. arborea and other species usually placed in Charniodiscus are bifoliate and do not have a fractal branching pattern. Because of these differences, Arborea was reinstated as a valid genus in 2018.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Xenacanthus sp.

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Kaiyodo
Series: Dinotales Series 4
Year of Production: 2003
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 8.0 cm for a scale of 1:2.5-1:12.5 depending on the species.
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Very rare
Miscellaneous Notes: Being one of the original Dinotales figures, some assembly is required. Safari Ltd. also made this species for their Prehistoric Sharks TOOB in 2010 but that figure is sculpted with an extra pair of anal fins. With at least 21 described species of Xenacanthus, determining a species identification here would be near impossible.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Carboniferous to Permian; nearly worldwide in appropriate habitats
Habitat: Freshwater lakes, rivers, swamps
Diet: Presumably predator of small fish and freshwater invertebrates
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Like related sharks, Xenacanthus had a peculiar spine jetting from the back of its head. The function of the spine is unknown but it has been speculated that it is defensive, in preventing larger predators from grabbing the shark by the back of its head. It has been suggested that it may have been poisonous, analogous to the barb of a stingray.

[Halichoeres]

I choose to believe the spine was a radio antenna always tuned to the classic rock station.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Hallucigenia sparsa (Walcott, 1911)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Favorite Co.
Series: Cambrian Creatures Mini Model - Burgess Shale Series
Year of Production: 2016
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 7.5 cm for a scale of 7.5:1-1.5:1
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Rare
Miscellaneous Notes: This is the second time we've seen H. sparsa in the Museum. This is probably the first figure to display the current concept of what H. sparsa may have looked like.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Middle Cambrian of present-day Canada
Habitat: Marine, epibenthic
Diet: Presumed filter feeder of detritus, or predator on sponges or other soft-bodied animals, or carrion (see below)
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Hallucigenia sparsa appears to have had a simple mouth with radial teeth and pharyngeal teeth in front of its gut. While long thought to be a filter feeder of detritus, it may have used its radial teeth to feed on living, or dead, animal prey. Hallucigenia is often found in conjunction with the sponge Vauxia and it may have used its teeth in a rasping method to feed on this and other sponges. It may have also used the same method to feed on carrion on the sea floor.

[bmathison1972]

Species: †Chasmosaurus belli (Lambe, 1902)

About the Figure:
Manufacturer: Haolonggood
Series: 1:35 Science and Art Model
Year of Production: 2024
Size/Scale: Body length approx. 12.5 cm for a scale of 1:38
Frequency of species in toy/figure form (at time of posting): Uncommon
Miscellaneous Notes: Like other Haolonggood dinosaur figures, this Chasmosaurus comes in two colors; this one was marketed as 'green' and the other as 'red'.

About the Animal:
Geographic distribution: Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of present-day western North America (Laramidia)
Habitat: Open woodlands and surrounding fern groves
Diet: Plants
IUCN Status (at time of posting): N/A [prehistoric]
Miscellaneous Notes: Chasmosaurus belli was originally described in the genus Monoclonius. Monoclonius is often now regarded as a dubius genus, with fossils originally described therein now assigned to other genera, including Chasmosaurus, Styracosaurus, Eoceratops, and Centrosaurus. To date, M. crassus is the only species that remains in the genus, although its validity remains in question.