We met the Italian company Diramix last year when we reviewed their Livyatan. Their rubbery, stretchy toys aren’t much to look at, but sometimes they take on some interesting species. I’m a sucker for those, so late last year when their “Mega Squali” line came out, I had to have the random prehistoric fish that they included.
The most unusual fish in the series is Pituriaspis. How odd is Pituriaspis? When it was discovered in Australia, the paleontologist who described it could hardly credit its morphology, and named it after a drug called pituri (a nicotine-containing stimulant chewed by aboriginal Australians). The name thus means “pituri shield,” which doesn’t make much sense on its own, but considering how many armored fish are called “something-aspis” it fits right in. Technically, this toy is marketed under the name “Pituriaspida,” the clade that Pituriaspis belongs to, but the only other known member of that group has a significantly different shield shape, so this is clearly modeled on Pituriaspis.
This jawless fish lived in estuaries during the Early to Middle Devonian. Its dorsal surface was a single large, un-jointed shield with large spiny projections, and a long pointed snout, or rostrum. It had paired pectoral fins, like Cephalaspis, or Hemicyclaspis, and unlike other jawless fishes like Pteraspis or Arandaspis.
This figure is not terribly attractive, but it’s hard to fault it for accuracy. The scalation on the fins and torso is believable, and although the shape of the head shield is a bit stylized it looks unmistakably like a Pituriaspis. It even includes the little pits underneath the eyes, which possibly housed some sensory structure in the living animal (electroreceptors? pressure sensors? olfactory equipment?). It’s a large figure, too, about 13.5 cm long, making it roughly life size.
Unfortunately, the production values are typical of Diramix. These figures are sold in blind bags, and mine had its snout melted into the seam of the plastic packaging. So what you see in these photos is the result of a minor amputation. The material is a soft, fun-to-handle rubber, but that means long, bony structures like the rostrum will always be oddly droopy and disfigured. And oh man, look at the paint. Clearly the shield was meant to be gray, and the rest of the body green, but the gray paint was aimed very poorly. The red paint all managed to land on the eyes, but the two sides don’t really match. Another copy of this that I’m aware of was stuffed too full of the gel-like beads that give it shape, and it suffered a small tear.
It’s a pity that we have to rely on a company with such low quality for odd creatures like this, but maybe it will inspire a heavy hitter like Safari Ltd, CollectA, Kaiyodo, or Favorite to make a nicer version. Until then, if you want a Pituriaspis, this is the only game in town. You can find it on Italian eBay, where the figure itself is not terribly expensive, but be prepared to pay a lot for shipping.
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Szerintem nagyon jó,hogy ez a figura ki lett adva és jól is néz ki.Sajnálatos az amputálás(ragadós)de nem olyan nagy baj.Egyébként találtam egy hasonló sorozatot,amiben nem csak kihalt állatok vannak,pl.:Leedsycthis(megvan),Mosasaurus(nincs,de ez nem szükséges,Placoderma(megvan,bár nem értem a megnevezését hiszen ez egy teljes csoport elnevezése,Dunkleosteus(megvan,bár a Schleiches a király),Beluga,Rozmár,Mélytrngeri cápa,Ammonites(megvan bár szakadt bruhh),Helicopryon(megvan),Stetachantus(nincs),Plesiosaurus(nincs meg ebbÅ‘l már annyi van),meg van még egy pár köztük a nekem is meglévÅ‘ hal ami számomra beazonosÃthatan.
A company like Diramix is thanked for making prehistoric fish considering that it is very undervalued in the toy market. Worthy figure to which I put four stars since it is still curious. We are in the golden age of dinosaur and toy animal companies globally.
Nice review. I personally am not really into prehistoric fish, but that one is somwhat cute (reminds me of a Gnathonemus) and for a probably cheap blind bag figure I find it good enough (recently got a Safari Prehistoric Shark Toob and quite some of them weren’t that properly painted aswell, so…).
But hard plastic can be repainted, these things are so soft anything applied would flake off.