Vol.63 Unofficial Sea Dragon Exhibition Sponsor! Minor Sea Dragon Figure Exhibition
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum's "Marine Reptile Exhibition" has been extended until January, which is good news, but I can't go anyway, so this is a feature born out of my sulking and thinking, "It doesn't concern me." The limited edition merchandise for the marine reptile exhibition sold online includes snacks, cushions, mugs, and clear files, but no figures, which was a disappointment. So, I decided to make up for it with my own marine reptile figure collection.
However, I have already introduced ichthyosaurs (New Treasure House Vol. 60, Vol. 61), mosasaurs (New Treasure House Vol. 42, Vol. 44), and nothosaurs, including our proud Keichousaurus (New Treasure House Vol. 22), and Futabasaurus (Treasure House Vol. 31), all of which are Sauropterygians. The other plesiosaur figures are too numerous to introduce, and before that, they all look so similar and leave such a weak impression that I wouldn't know where to find them without searching the house. So, later, I'll gloss over it by introducing the relatively few skeleton figures.
So, the main focus this time is on my collection of obscure Mesozoic (and some Permian) marine (and freshwater) reptiles, which are rarely featured and whose origins are not well understood.
The cover of the exhibition catalog "Marine Reptiles - Ocean Prowlers of the Dinosaur Age," which I acquired on Mercari, features an impactful mosasaur, playing on the word "prowler." Chapter 1, titled "Marine Reptiles that Advanced into the Sea," explains early ichthyosaurs such as Mixosaurus and Shastasaurus, which I introduced in New Treasure House Vol. 61, as well as Keichousaurus. The highlight of this section is the display of numerous actual fossils, many of which are being exhibited for the first time in Japan. In particular, the museum's special website recommends the thalattosauroid Concavispina (I still don't know what species our thalattosaur, which appeared in Vol. 61, is) and the placodont Gryphodelma.
* Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur MuseumHP
* YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUBD4MEnAKY
This Gryphodelma has actually already been made into a figure in its home country, China (Image 1). The creator is "PNSO," which has been releasing a rapid succession of high-quality new works, causing collectors to scratch their heads. It's a candy toy size, about 9cm, but look at the quality. It comes with an explanatory pamphlet that unfolds into a poster on the back.
Placodonts have long been described in encyclopedias as "marine reptiles similar to but not turtles," and any paleontology fan should recognize them. However, explanations are usually limited to "they ate shellfish," with little detail, and their appearance isn't particularly striking. So, it's no exaggeration to say they're a prime example of an obscure and unpopular prehistoric creature. There are very few figures of them.
However, as I was writing this, and after reading the marine reptile exhibition catalog and browsing the internet, I discovered that placodonts are actually closely related to plesiosaurs. That was a surprise! I learned something unexpected.
Now, let's introduce the few placodont figures.
Henodus (Image 2)
With its distinctive shell shape and charming expression, it stands at the pinnacle of placodont figures, though there are only a few of them.
The upper left is a work by sansyo88, a familiar antique paleontological modeler on Yahoo Auctions who creates one-of-a-kind pieces for the Treasure House. Sansyo88 continues to produce minor prehistoric creatures that are rarely modeled (many of which I wouldn't know without searching), and their works are a strong ally for themes like this. This time, four types are featured. To its right is a rare netsuke created by Hirokazu Tokugawa, a paleontological sculptor. It was originally sold at a paleontology conference. The bottom row, from left, includes Safari's "Prehistoric Sea Life Tube," "Playvision" (New Treasure House Vol. 8), and one that came with a 70s Lifelike diorama kit, which I also introduced in New Treasure House Vol. 59. While it's a stretch to call it a Henodus, I can't argue with what's explicitly stated in the kit's instruction manual.
Placodus and Placochelys (Image 3)
*Neither has a dedicated explanation online. They are inconspicuous wherever they are.
Sansyo88 (left) and Playvision (top right) are Placodus. Only the bottom right of Starlux (Treasure House Vol. 6 / New Treasure House Vol. 8) is Placochelys, but for some reason, it's missing its shell.
Marine Crocodilians (Image 4)
Among these, only Metriorhynchus is familiar from old encyclopedias. The others are more recently known, and while they look cool, unfortunately, there isn't much information about them. It's also unclear whether they were oviparous or viviparous. It seems highly unlikely that they would come ashore on sandy beaches to lay eggs like sea turtles with this body shape. If they were viviparous, they would be the only archosaurian group to be so.
The upper left is Safari's Plesiosuchus. Unfortunately, there's no independent online explanation for it.
The upper right and lower left are PNSO and Safari's "Prehistoric Crocodiles Tube" Dakosaurus.
It's a twist of fate, isn't it, that these two species, who clearly looked so strong, couldn't establish themselves as apex predators, being replaced by the contemporary pliosaurs?
The rest are all Metriorhynchus: a bonus from an American garage kit of Liopleurodon that appeared in New Treasure House Vol. 44, Safari's "Prehistoric Sea Life Tube," and a Kaiyodo Chocolasaurus.
Choristoderans (Image 5)
These seem to be freshwater rather than marine creatures, but they are also full of mysteries. The representative Champsosaurus
(Left: sansyo88 and upper right: Safari "Prehistoric Crocodiles Tube") has long been featured in encyclopedias as an unfortunate(?) reptile that survived until the Cenozoic but went extinct in the Eocene, and there are exhibits in many museums. I used to think of it as merely confusingly similar to Camptosaurus. However, after seeing the exhibition at this summer's "Dinosaur Science Expo," I re-realized, "It's pretty cool!" Then, at the "Museum Fest" in the fall, someone who seemed to have had the same thought was exhibiting something like this.
https://twitter.com/maetomo5/status/1435087332927950848
It was a bit expensive for its size, so I held back on buying it, but now I regret it.
The vertebra in the bottom left is a replica of a sacral or caudal vertebra of a Champsosaurus from Mongolia, which I received from a researcher quite a while ago. It's about 13cm across.
The middle right is an actual fossil of a Hyphalosaurus from Liaoning Province. Hyphalosaurus fossils are widely available on the market, and the internet is teeming with sales sites and auction information instead of academic information sites like Wikipedia.
So, I don't know what kind of animal it is... it's a problem.
Below that is a Manchurosuchus (Manchurian crocodile), also from Liaoning. This is also from Yahoo Auctions, but its authenticity is uncertain. When I tried to scrape a bit, that part disappeared. It could be a well-made fake, or heavily modified... well, it looks good as a decoration, so I'm fine with it.
As such, choristoderans are diverse, and their common feature seems to be the shape of the bones in the back of the head, but for an amateur like me, I have no idea what that means.
Odontochelys (Image 6)
This is an Odontochelys figure, which wasn't available back when I did the turtle feature (New Treasure House Vol. 12) quite a while ago. It's another sansyo88 creation and a PNSO product. I'm very grateful to both of them this time. And to top it off, PNSO's Atopodentatus, a mysterious marine reptile whose true form was only discovered about five years ago. China is truly amazing.
Permian marine animals (Image 7)
On the left is a marine reptile from Madagascar. The body part is a positive/negative actual fossil of Hovasaurus.
The head is a replica of Claudiosaurus.
I'm secretly hoping that the Hovasaurus, which is just a torso, is actually a misidentified Claudiosaurus, so I've arranged the head and body together. In any case, whether it's Hovasaurus or Claudiosaurus, even after reading online explanations, their classification is unclear, and they are similar-looking marine reptiles.
More importantly, I bought these fossils from an Italian dealer named Flavio, whom I know from mineral shows.
It turns out he was the very person who assembled and put up for auction the Triceratops "Big John," which sold for 800 million yen at a French auction recently reported in the news. I was so surprised!
The two on the right are replicas of Mesosaurus from Brazil, but the black one might actually be the first prehistoric replica I ever owned. This was back in the early 80s. In Japan, for some reason, Mesosaurus has long been traded not so much as a fossil but as a decorative item to hang on walls. I can never forget seeing one framed and sold for an exorbitant price at a Setagaya Boroichi (flea market) long ago. Mesosaurus is actually not a reptile but belongs to a group of amniotes called the Mesosauria. It's hard to tell from the fossil, though.
Plesiosaur Skeletons (Image 8)
Honestly, I'm relieved to be back to familiar marine reptiles. Let me briefly introduce them.
Top row: Geoworld excavation kit, Elasmosaurus / A pure Chinese-made Pliosaurus with all Chinese characters on the package, so I don't even know the manufacturer. This is also an excavation kit, and I've painted it. / The Plesiosaurus, originally a confectionery toy from Meiji Choco (Treasure House Vol. 44), was painted and had a base with an ammonite added by the curator of the "Dinosaur Toy Museum," who has been very helpful to me.
Middle row 1: A wind-up Plesio (manufacturer unknown) / "Excavation Dinosaur Kaseking" Plesio (Takara Tomy) / National Museum of Nature and Science Capsule Museum - Futabasuzukiryu (Kaiyodo) / Meiji Chocoball Dinosaur Country Plesio / Sapporo Boy Fun Cup Plesio. The two green erasers are of unknown origin. Moving to the right: Kaiyodo Gacha "Dinosaur Excavation Record" Pliosaurus and Chocolasaurus Plesiosaurus / American toy "Bone Age" Plesio. It has various gimmicks, but unfortunately, I don't know how to play with it.
Middle row 2: Paper craft from a craft book titled "Let's Restore Japanese Dinosaur Fossils," 1/10 Futabasuzukiryu (Futami Shobo) / Benesse cardboard craft, Futabasuzukiryu. The academic name Futabasaurus suzukii is also written on the package. It's so big that it sadly doesn't fit on its base...
Bottom row: DOM's unpainted wood Plesio (large) and a small bobble-head Plesio (manufacturer unknown) / Chinese shell craft
That concludes the minor marine reptile exhibition.
The "Japanese Painting Dinosaur Exhibition," which I look forward to every year, was held again this November. It's a very pleasant space. You can get a sense of the atmosphere from this report.
And this time, we welcomed a piece by Rinami Egoshi titled "Yasuraka" (Peaceful) into our home. Happily, it's a Confuciusornis skeleton. So, all our Confuciusornis gathered to greet it. (Image 9)
For some reason, there are few Confuciusornis figures. The ones we have are the garage kit introduced in Treasure House Vol. 64 (ah, Honoo no Shinsengumi) and, again, only the PNSO mini model. The skull below, though not confirmed, might be Confuciusornis... It's something I cleaned from a fossil bought at a fossil shop in Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, over 20 years ago. I remember it being surprisingly cheap. The expensive items at that shop were framed fossils of turtles and other creatures with auspicious Chinese characters written directly on them.
Now, changing the subject, I've stumbled upon it again. It's "Nazo no Kyoryu Okoku" (Mystery Dinosaur Kingdom), based on Conan Doyle's "The Lost World," which was irregularly serialized in various formats across different grades in Shogakukan's monthly magazines for elementary school students in the 1960s. This is the third installment (please see the previous New Treasure House Vol. 62). This time, it's from the June 1969 issue of "Shogaku Yonensei" (Fourth Grade Elementary School Student), with text by Shigeru Ishikawa and illustrations by Joji Ebashi. For some reason, the "nazo" (mystery) in the title is written in hiragana. The characters are the original four, but the number of pages has been reduced to a heavily abridged version. The circumstances that led to the expedition are told in a summary style. For example, the events from discovering iguanodons on the plateau to being attacked in the pterosaur swamp are condensed into:
" 'Look, dinosaurs!' Five or six dinosaurs were fighting in the grassy area about five meters away. Just then, a black, devil-like pterosaur attacked the four overhead."
Rhamphorhynchus is clearly depicted, but the dinosaurs only appear as heads, with only four in total, even including the cover, and they are in the background. (Image 10)
At this rate, there are probably many more "Mystery Dinosaur Kingdoms" categorized by grade. Finding them is a matter of luck.
Apologies and Corrections
In "Vol. 60," I introduced Mary Anning's book "Fossils by the Sea," but I got the publisher's name wrong. I wrote "Mepun Children's Books," but the correct name was "Nupun Children's Books." This mistake was pointed out by a reader, which I greatly appreciate. I'm working on a lifelong project of compiling a list of dinosaur books published in Japan, and I'm very happy to have been able to correct that entry as well. Thank you very much. I looked up the unfamiliar word "Nupun" and found that it seems to be an Ainu word meaning "wilderness" or "mountain side."
I couldn't find any information about the company "Nupun Children's Books" online, and it's unclear if they still exist, but to apologize, let me introduce another dinosaur picture book published by them.
"TOM" by Daniel Torres
It's a beautiful picture book. Published in 1997, it appears to be out of print, but there are plenty of used copies available.
Well, the year is drawing to a close. I lit the lamp at Sinclair's GS for the first time in a while. (Image 11)
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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