New CollectA Models 2022 (Part 2)

Today, team members at Everything Dinosaur announce the second set of new for 2022 CollectA prehistoric animal models. Although, due to all the various issues caused by the global pandemic, CollectA, like most manufacturers will introduce fewer figures than usual next year, they are certainly setting extremely high standards.

The two new for 2022 figures we announce today are:

  • CollectA Deluxe Smok wawelski with an articulated jaw (1:20 scale)
  • CollectA Prehistoric Life Cooperoceras

Scheduled for delivery in early 2022, Everything Dinosaur will keep model collectors informed about shipments.

New for 2022 CollectA models (part 2).
The second batch of CollectA models have been announced (2022) the archosaur Smok wawelski from Poland and the armoured nautiloid Cooperoceras from North America and Europe.

Smok wawelski – A Polish Dragon!

CollectA will be adding a replica of the Late Triassic predator Smok wawelski to their model range next year. Fans of the CollectA range will know that in 2020, a 1:20 scale replica of the giant, Polish dicynodont Lisowicia bojani was introduced. Fossil remains of a large carnivore were also found at the same site. The bonebed in southern Poland close to the village of Lisowice, also revealed the presence of a five-metre plus archosaurian meat-eater. Named and described in 2011, Smok wawelski is the largest terrestrial predator known from the Late Triassic of central Europe.

CollectA Deluxe Smok wawelski.
The new for 2022 CollectA Deluxe Smok wawelski replica reflects the view that this large Late Triassic predator was not a theropod dinosaur.

A Taxonomic Puzzle

When first studied, it was thought that the fossilised remains represented a theropod dinosaur. The braincase had several anatomical traits reminiscent to those seen in the skulls of allosaurids. Subsequent fossil discoveries have thrown doubts on whether Smok is a dinosaur. It may not belong to the dinosaur/bird lineage of the Archosauria at all, Smok could be a member of the Rauisuchidae, or perhaps a prestosuchid from the crocodile branch of the Archosauria. Designer Anthony Beeson has opted to depict this powerful predator as a quadruped, a member of the crocodile lineage of archosaurs. The 1:20 scale model has an articulated jaw.

CollectA Deluxe Smok wawelski model.
The new CollectA Deluxe 1:20 scale Smok wawelski has an articulated lower jaw.

CollectA Cooperoceras

The second new for 2022 CollectA figure we announce today, is a beautiful model of the bizarre nautiloid Cooperoceras. A spiky cephalopod distantly related to the living nautilus. CollectA have made several replicas of iconic Palaeozoic invertebrates in recent years. For example, in 2020 the company added a model of a nautilus to their model range (N. pompilius). The introduction of Cooperoceras adds to the list of important zonal fossil models made by CollectA. These replicas represent Palaeozoic and Mesozoic invertebrates, fossils of which assist with the dating of strata (biostratigraphy).

CollectA Cooperoceras
The new for 2022 CollectA Cooperoceras model continues the company’s fine tradition for creating replicas of important Palaeozoic invertebrates.

Cooperoceras was an early nautiloid with a shell measuring 4 inches (101.6 mm) long and 3 inches (76 mm) high.

The genus and type species C. texanum was erected by the American geologist Arthur K. Miller in 1945 following an extensive period of fossil collecting in the Glass Mountains and the Sierra Diablo of western Texas undertaken by several scientists in a bid to better understand the diversity of Permian-aged nautiloids which were very poorly known in comparison to the contemporary ammonites.

Originally thought to have been confined to the Permian, in 1977, a new species of Cooperoceras was named and described (C. milleri) from much older deposits (Shumway Limestone Formation of the Mattoon Formation, Illinois). This discovery suggests that these types of nautiloids were present in the Late Carboniferous.

Explaining how Cooperoceras (Cooper’s horn) came to be added to the CollectA portfolio, designer Anthony Beeson stated:

“It had an amazing and tactile open coiled shell with flattened sides and sporting recurvant hollow spines on its outer edge which was the reason that I wanted to do a model of it. I think it may be popular with children. It lived in the shallow seas over what is now Texas and Illinois, and the Urals in Europe.”

Model Measurements

  • CollectA Deluxe 1:20 scale Smok wawelski with an articulated jaw length 27 cm, height 8.5 cm.
  • CollectA Cooperoceras nautiloid model length 11 cm, height of shell 8.3 cm.

These figures are scheduled to be in stock at Everything Dinosaur in the early part of 2022. Due to the current difficulties with logistics and global shipping, we are not able to give a precise date as to when these figures will be available. Team members will do all they can to update customers with regards to availability.

To view the range of CollectA Deluxe models, including the Lisowicia bojani model in stock at Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Animals.

To view the CollectA Prehistoric Life models, including the invertebrate figures: CollectA Prehistoric Life.