Within the final a number of years, the toy dinosaur group has seen an exponential improve in figures of dinosaurs found in China, pushed primarily by the prolific China-based firms PNSO and Haolonggood. Right this moment we trying on the first dinosaur severely scientifically investigated from China, the sauropod Euhelopus zdanski of the early Cretaceous. Fossils have been first found by a Catholic priest in 1913. He shared the stays with a German mining engineer who despatched the pinnacle and three vertebrae to the Chinese language geologist Ding Wenjiang. In 1922 the positioning was rediscovered with the assistance of one other Catholic priest and in 1923 the Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky, who was nonetheless a scholar on the time, excavated two skeletons at neighboring websites. Later in 1923, the holotype of what would develop into E. zdanski was studied by Chinese language paleontologist H. C. T’an. Nevertheless, it wasn’t till 1929 that it might be formally described by Swedish Paleontologist Carl Wiman. Wiman initially described it as Helopus zdanski. Nevertheless, the identify Helopus was preoccupied in zoological nomenclature by Helopus caspius, a synonym of the Caspian Tern (now Hydroprogne caspia). In 2010 the species could be redescribed and specimen PMU 24705, one of many authentic fossils from 1913, could be designated because the holotype. The phylogenetic relationship of Euhelopus to different sauropods just isn’t fully identified. It’s usually positioned within the household Euhelopidae, however the monophyly of the group stays in query. Both manner, it seems to be allied to the titanosaurs, maybe basal to the remainder of the clade or a member of its sister group. Right this moment we’re Haolonggood’s 2025 rendition of Euhelopus, a genus that to one of the best of my information has solely been made as soon as earlier than, by PNSO in 2016.
This mannequin by Haolonggood measures roughly 18.5 cm tall and 25.0 cm lengthy. It’s usually troublesome to calculate scale in dinosaur figures, since options like top and physique size are sometimes estimates. A 2013 paper recommended Euhelopus had a 4-meter-long neck. The neck on this determine is roughly 13.0 cm which might put the size at 1:31. Utilizing the scale chart on Wikipedia, the animal is about 6 meters lengthy from the entrance of the chest to the tip of the tail. Utilizing these metrics, the determine involves 1:31.5. It looks as if it’s secure to imagine this determine is about 1:31, however may in all probability match into 1:32 (a well-liked scale!).
The animal is sculpted in a reasonably impartial pose as if strolling via a discipline or an open patch of a dense woodland. There’s a claw on the entrance ft. From what I can inform, we don’t have fossilized ft of Euhelopus, and it’s usually assumed members of Titanosauria correct lacked entrance claws. Nevertheless, provided that Euhelopus might be basal to the group or in a sister clade, a claw just isn’t fully out of the realm of chance. One factor we do have on Euhelopus, that we frequently don’t for sauropods, is the pinnacle! And this determine does the species justice in that division. Eyes, nostrils, and even some tiny enamel are sculpted! Not unhealthy for a mannequin of this measurement! Very fantastic keratinized scales run down the again and onto the tail whereas paired osteoderms run down the neck with random placement on the primary a part of the physique.
Like all different Haolonggood figures, this one is available in two colours, which may finest be described as gray (Yang Chun) and brown (Jiang Jing). I made a decision on the gray model, because it has a largely easy palate, aside from the banded tail (apparently a Haolonggood trademark today) and a pale underside. So lots of their figures have stripes, bands, and/or ‘squiggles’, I wished the best paint job attainable in my determine!
Total, it is a pretty good rendition of the species, based mostly on what we all know of the animal, and I feel it’s far more aesthetically-pleasing than the overly lanky and scrawny PNSO model. Really useful. Accessible wherever Haolonggood figures are offered. I stay within the US and simply at present I received an e-mail from US-based Pleased Hen Toys that they’ve it in inventory, in order that could possibly be possibility for my fellow Individuals.
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