A good looking amphibian, the Diplocaulus has won a warm spot in all our hearts. This unorthodox critter has even been a subject of interest for that circus called ‘cryptozoology’ (the supposed Diplocaulus was a fake, of course). I’ve seen at least one anonymous Chinese Diplocaulus toy, but not many companies have come up with a decent replica. Only the Kaiyodo Dino-Tales series cover as many bases as possible and I’m pleased to say that this is yet another winner.
The Diplocaulus was a Permian lepospondyl (a type of amphibian with very curious vertebrae) of the family of the Keraterpetontidae (name provided by another cool member, the Keraterpeton). The Diplocaulus measured up to 1 meter and lived in swamps and rivers; it probably didn’t venture outside its aquatic enviroment because its limbs were relatively weak and primitive. It probably preyed on fishes and insects. The order Nectridea (to which the Diplocaulus belongs) were very similar to modern newts; their tails were flat (no caudal fin).
Perhaps the most notorious thing is its head. The cranial projections are practically unique and have been subjected to debates for decades (the topics range from growth to locomotion, you name it). They were so big that they probably didn’t fit inside the jaws of bigger predators. There are two known species, D. magnicornis and D. salamandroides (curiously they were both found by Cope). I think this toy is based on the latter, which is the holotype, but I could be wrong. Advanced Nectridea members were supposed to have four fingers on the fore paws, and five on the hind ones, but the Kaiyodo Diplocaulus has 5 fingers on each.
All in all, the detail and the paint job are not as revolutionary as the ones from Series 3, but they’re still awesome. I particularly liked the feel of the skin (almost smooth but not quite), the big mouth (which is closed, so no visible dentition) and the bulging eyes. The squashed body is not as fat as in most of the artistic renditions. The belly is white, while the rest of the body is green with yellow and orange patterns (the yellow one seems a little bt clumsy). The nostrils are inexlicably absent.
As with many Kaiyodos, the resin seems fragile; that’s not all, sometimes the pieces of the puzzle (in this case, the two pieces, the body and the head, require minimum assembly) do not fit perfectly due to production problems. I guess it has to do with its being a miniature (the toy measures aprox. 9cm).
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