A Mysterious Tooth on the Base of the CollectA Deluxe Phorusrhacos Model

By |2026-02-20T15:37:06+00:00February 18th, 2026|Categories: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Animal Models|0 Comments

The prehistoric animal models made by CollectA are appreciated by model collectors.  Often it is the details that make these figures so impressive.  For example, the new for 2025 Phorusrhacos terror bird model is beautiful and scientifically accurate.  In addition, there is a canine tooth on the display base.  These predatory birds are often depicted in battles with the felid Smilodon.  However, Phorusrhacos lived long before the land bridge linking North and South America developed. Phorusrhacos (P. longissimus) was extinct millions of years before the Great American Biotic Interchange took place.

The taxon Phorusrhacos very probably never interacted with a Smilodon.

The terror bird Phorusrhacos model from CollectA has a tooth on its display base.

The canine on the CollectA Deluxe Phorusrhacos figure. It is not the tooth of a Smilodon, but the tooth of a coeval sparassodont. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Explaining the Tooth on the Base of the Phorusrhacos Terror Bird Model

Team members at Everything Dinosaur like to help collectors and model fans.  They created a short video to explain that the tooth on the base probably represents a canine from a sparassodont. Sparassodonts are distantly related to marsupials.  They were native to South America, and they occupied many predatory niches.  Some forms evolved into wolf-sized carnivores. The tooth on the display is not from a Smilodon but from a sparassodont. Perhaps from a Borhyaena tuberata, a large predator very probably a contemporary of Phorusrhacos longissimus.

Borhyaena tuberata (Sparassodonta) life reconstruction.

A life reconstruction of the Middle Miocene sparassodont Borhyaena tuberata that was probably a contemporary of the terror bird Phorusrhacos. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of CollectA Deluxe figures in stock at Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Animal Models.

An Explanatory Video

The short, explanatory video (duration forty-seven seconds), is available on Everything Dinosaur’s social media pages. Furthermore, it has been added to the company’s YouTube channel.

To view the Everything Dinosaur YouTube channel: Visit Our YouTube Channel.

Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“The video provides information about the tooth.  It tackles the misconception that Phorusrhacos may have competed against sabre-toothed cats.  It is true that later phorusrhacids, very probably encountered Smilodon.  However, the genus Phorusrhacos probably did not.  However, in the Miocene sparassodonts probably did compete with terror birds.”

There is a broken canine tooth incorporated into the base of the CollectA Deluxe Phorusrhacos.

When viewed in left lateral view the broken canine tooth of a mammalian predator can be seen on the base of the figure.

The multi-award-winning Everything Dinosaur website: Prehistoric Animal Models.