New CollectA Models (Part 4)

It’s that time of the week when we can reveal the next set of CollectA prehistoric animal models that are to be introduced next year.  Today, we announce four new models in total, one dinosaur and three invertebrates.  One of the invertebrates could be described as a “living fossil”.

All these figures are in the “CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Size” range and they are:

• CollectA Hunting Mapusaurus Dinosaur Model
• The CollectA Pleuroceras (ammonite)
• CollectA Belemnite
• CollectA Horseshoe Crab

The CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Size Hunting Mapusaurus Dinosaur Model

Picture credit: CollectA

CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models – The CollectA Hunting Mapusaurus

CollectA will add a model of the giant South American theropod Mapusaurus in a hunting pose.  We suspect that this figure is being brought out to replace the original CollectA Mapusaurus model that was introduced in 2012.  There is a Mapusaurus in the CollectA Deluxe 1:40 model range, this was introduced in 2018.  Designer Anthony Beeson suggests that this Popular series figure can accompany the Deluxe version, perhaps as a representation of a juvenile or a sub-adult.

The CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Size Pleuroceras Ammonite Model

Picture credit: CollectA

CollectA Pleuroceras Ammonite Model

The first of the three new prehistoric invertebrates is a wonderful model of the Early Jurassic ammonite Pleuroceras and what a beautiful figure it is.  CollectA have been asked to create several marine creatures by a German Museum and Dinosaur Park to help illustrate what the living creatures associated with iconic fossils actually looked like.

Pleuroceras is one of the most distinctive of all the ammonites known from the Pliensbachian stage of the Jurassic, its fossils are associated with famous fossil sites such as Lyme Regis in Dorset and Nuremberg (southern Germany).  This type of ammonite was an active swimmer (nektonic) and a hunter of other animals.  The strongly ribbed shell and the prominent, serrated keel running around the outside of the shell are distinctive features associated with this genus.

CollectA have depicted their ammonite in a dynamic pose as if it is about to grab at prey.  The hypernome (the fleshy tube underneath the head used to propel the cephalopod backwards by shooting jets of water forwards), can clearly be seen.

The CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Size Belemnite Model

Picture credit: CollectA

CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models – The CollectA Belemnite Model

Joining the ammonite is another cephalopod, a fantastic figure of a belemnite.  The word “belemnite” comes from the Greek for “dart”, a reflection of the fact that these marine creatures closely related to squid, cuttlefish and ammonites for that matter, are mostly known from the robust guard (scientifically described as a rostrum), a solid piece of calcite that was located at the rear of the animal and formed part of its internal skeleton.

Designer Anthony Beeson explained that he wanted to depict these members of the Mollusca phylum as active animals he commented:

“I have tried to give the cephalopods a sense of movement which is often lacking in toy representations.”

We suspect that both the ammonite and belemnite models are going to prove very popular with UK regional museums, curators can add a representation of the living animal into display cases highlighting the fossils.

The CollectA Horseshoe Crab

Picture credit: CollectA

The CollectA Horseshoe Crab

The last new model for this week, is an arthropod, a model of an animal geologically much older than either the ammonite or belemnite.  The horseshoe crab (family Limulidae), was around before both ammonites and belemnites evolved, this marine invertebrate, often described as a “living fossil” has not changed much in over 450 million years.  That hard carapace and the eyelets including the primitive eyes (pits at the front of the model), have been beautifully sculpted.  Everything Dinosaur team members are keen to see what the underside of the model looks like with its gills and paired limbs.

CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models – The Tale of the Tape

All four figures are in the CollectA The Age of Dinosaurs – Popular size model range and therefore they are not to scale.

• CollectA Hunting Mapusaurus length 23.4 cm, height 8.6 cm – available mid 2020.
• CollectA Pleuroceras length 11.9 cm, height just over 7 cm – available mid 2020.
• The CollectA Belemnite length 10 cm, height 14.3 cm – available mid 2020.
• CollectA Horseshoe Crab 15 cm long, width 7.7 cm – available mid 2020.

To view the current range of CollectA Age of Dinosaurs – Popular size figures: CollectA Prehistoric Life.

View the first of the 2020 CollectA prehistoric animals to be announced: New CollectA Prehistoric Animals (Part 1).

To read about the second set of new for 2020 CollectA prehistoric animals: New CollectA Prehistoric Animals (Part 2).

To read the third part in our series introducing new CollectA figures: New CollectA models (Part 3).

The award-winning Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Eofauna Atlasaurus Model Available from Everything Dinosaur

The latest model in the Eofauna Scientific Research range, a replica of the bizarre sauropod Atlasaurus is available to purchase at Everything Dinosaur.  This is the fifth model in the prehistoric animal range and the second dinosaur following the introduction of a Giganotosaurus replica earlier this year.

The Eofauna Atlasaurus Model

The Eofauna Atlasaurus Model Available from Everything Dinosaur

Eofauna Scientific Research Models

Since the first figure in this range was introduced, a replica of a Steppe Mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) in the autumn of 2017, model collectors and devotees of prehistoric animal figures have become firm fans of the Eofauna range.  There are now five prehistoric animal models in this range, all of them available from Everything Dinosaur.

The Eofauna Scientific Research Prehistoric Animal Model Range (November 2019)

The picture (above) shows all the five Eofauna Scientific Research models that are currently available (as of November 2019).

From left to right:

• Straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) launched summer 2018.
• Steppe Mammoth model (Mammuthus trogontherii) launched autumn 2017.
• Atlasaurus dinosaur model (Atlasaurus imelakei) launched November 2019.
• Deinotherium (Deinotherium giganteum) launched October 2019.
• Giganotosaurus (Giganotosaurus carolinii) launched January 2019.

The Atlasaurus figure is certainly the tallest model in this range that Eofauna have produced.  It stands a little under 23 cm high, but it is not the longest, for the moment the 39 cm long Giganotosaurus holds that particular record.

As with the vast majority of all the named prehistoric animal figures that Everything Dinosaur supplies, a dinosaur fact sheet has been researched and produced.  The fact sheet will be sent out with purchases of the Atlasaurus dinosaur.

A Fact Sheet Providing Information About Atlasaurus imelakei Has Been Prepared

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Atlasaurus imelakei

When first described around twenty years ago, this strange dinosaur was thought to be a member of the primitive sauropod family, the Cetiosauridae.  Affinities with the brachiosaurids were proposed, but a review of the African fossil material previously ascribed to the genus Brachiosaurus but now assigned to Giraffatitan changed the taxonomic picture somewhat for Atlasaurus.

Many palaeontologists think that Atlasaurus should be classified as a member of the unranked clade Turiasauria.  The Turiasauria consists of an assortment of sauropods, most of which are known from European fossil material.  Turiasaurians were once thought to have been restricted to Europe but Moabosaurus (Utah), which was scientifically described in 2017, has extended the geographical range into North America and there have been some fossils from Tanzania also placed within the Turiasauria clade (Tendaguria).

Scientists continue to debate the constituents of the Turiasauria and where this unranked clade should be placed within the Sauropodomorpha.  After all, if Atlasaurus is anything to go by, these types of dinosaurs were quite unusual.  For example, Atlasaurus had a disproportionately large skull, a relatively short neck for its size and proportionately long limbs.

The Atlasaurus Dinosaur Model (Eofauna Scientific Research)

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of Eofauna models available from Everything Dinosaur: Eofauna Scientific Research Models.

New CollectA Models 2020 (Part 3)

Today, Everything Dinosaur in collaboration with our chums at CollectA, announce a further three new prehistoric animal figures for 2020.  We have one new dinosaur, one prehistoric shark, and one new, giant member of the Dicynodontia, in fact, the biggest dicynodont known to science!

The three new CollectA prehistoric animal models are:

• CollectA Deluxe 1:40 scale Megalodon shark (C. megalodon).
• The CollectA “Roaring Allosaurus in “The Age of Dinosaurs” – popular size range.
• CollectA Deluxe 1:20 scale Lisowicia bojani – that giant dicynodont we promised.

A CollectA Deluxe 1:40 Scale Megalodon Shark Model

Picture credit: CollectA

CollectA Megalodon Model

Model collectors have been asking for a Megalodon shark to be added to this range for some time.  This giant, prehistoric shark, once again came to prominence with the release of “The Meg” last year, a film that grossed more than $500 million USD at the box office.  A sequel is in development, but good news for model collectors, the CollectA Megalodon model will be here much sooner, it can be expected mid-2020.

Designer Anthony Beeson commented that producing a shark figure with an articulated jaw was a real challenge, after all, large “mackerel sharks”, such as the living Great White (Carcharodon carcharias), unhinge their top jaws from the skull when they bite.  The teeth in the upper jaw shoot forward as the upper jaw moves, the team at CollectA worked hard to recreate an accurate model of one of the largest carnivores known to science.  The carefully proportioned figure, certainly gives the impression of a lithe but powerful animal.

A CollectA “The Age of Dinosaurs” Popular Size Roaring Allosaurus Model

Picture credit: CollectA

CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models – The CollectA Roaring Allosaurus

CollectA have updated their interpretation of Allosaurus by adding a model of this famous theropod in a roaring pose.  Allosaurus (A. fragilis) is one of the most intensively studied and best-known of all the carnivorous dinosaurs and it is great to see CollectA scheduling an update of this famous Late Jurassic dinosaur.  The model has prominent eye crests, anatomically correct digits and it even has lips, in line with a recent theory.

The introduction of this new figure, probably spells the end for the existing CollectA Allosaurus model in this series.  However, despite all the research centred around Allosaurus specimens from the Morrison Formation, palaeontologists remain unsure as to the taxonomy of this genus.  The fossil material classified as A. fragilis shows a wide diversity, especially when considering skull length to height ratios that cannot be explained by ontogeny.  The Morrison Formation fossil material currently assigned to Allosaurus fragilis may actually represent more than one species.  That is a good excuse to retain both CollectA Allosaurus figures in your model collection!

The CollectA Deluxe 1:20 Scale Lisowicia bojani

Picture credit: CollectA

CollectA Deluxe Lisowicia bojani (1:20 scale)

Last but by no means least this week, comes a 1:20 scale replica of the giant dicynodont from southern Poland Lisowicia bojani (pronounced: Les-wick-ee-ah bow-jan-eye).  Described in November 2018 (although the fossil remains had been found ten years earlier), Lisowicia was a giant herbivore that measured around 4.5 metres in length and it probably weighed more than a bull Asian elephant.

It was at least 40% bigger than any known dicynodont and one of the very last of its kind, living around 210-205 million years ago.  This animal, distantly related to modern mammals, co-existed with the dinosaurs, in truth, it dwarfed most of contemporaries, although the fragmentary bones of a five-metre long theropod dinosaur were also found at the same site.

Anthony Beeson explained that this was a very unusual member of the dicynodont group, not only was it huge, but unlike most other dicynodonts, its limbs were held directly under the body.  Lisowicia had a powerful beak and large tusks although the rest of the jaw lacked teeth.  The CollectA model has an articulated jaw.

CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models – The Tale of the Tape

• CollectA Deluxe Megalodon shark model (1:40 scale)  measures 27.5 cm in length – available mid 2020.
• The CollectA Allosaurus length 17.5 cm with a head height of around 8 cm – available mid 2020.
• CollectA Deluxe Lisowicia bojani (1:20 scale) measures 19.5 cm long and over the hips it is approximately 11 cm high – available mid 2020.

To view the first of the 2020 CollectA prehistoric animals to be announced: New CollectA Prehistoric Animals (Part 1).

Read about the second set of new for 2020 CollectA prehistoric animals: New CollectA Prehistoric Animals (Part 2).

To view the current CollectA prehistoric life range models: CollectA Prehistoric Life.

The CollectA Deluxe range: CollectA Deluxe Models.