Introduction
⇒ Image Gallery
Mr. Yasunori Kishida is known as an esteemed taxonomist who specializes in moths. He was born on November 1, 1949 in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo as the first son of Yoshiaki and Tomoko Kishida. He became fascinated with insects in his childhood, and became properly absorbed in collecting them during his junior high school days. Subsequently, he entered Tokyo University of Agriculture Dai-ichi High School, where he began to primarily research moths. He then went on to Tokyo University of Agriculture in 1967, where he conducted taxonomic studies of mainly arctiid moths in the Laboratory of Entomology until his graduation in 1971. He then became a science teacher at Denenchofufutaba Gakuen Junior and Senior High School from 1973, moving on to Hosen Gakuen Junior and Senior High School from 1976, before finally taking early retirement in 2008. While working, he energetically collected moths and other insects in Japan and overseas, in addition to publishing more than 200 publications on taxonomic studies of macrolepidopterans including the widely-regarded titles “The Standard of Moths in Japan 1, 2 and 4 (Gakken)”, “Insect Larvae of Japan (Gakken)”, “Endless Collection Series Vol. 8. Day-Flying Moths (ESI)” and “Handbook Series of Insects 5. Selected Arctiid Moths of the World (Mushi-sha)”. These activities contributed to the development of insect taxonomy, especially in the area of Lepidoptera. Moreover, he also held prominent posts such as
President of the Lepidopterological Society of Japan (2010-2012) and President of the Japan Heterocerists’ Society (2001-present).
Presently Mr. Kishida continues his passionate research and collection of various insects, especially moths, with his insect collection growing steadily. Of his collection, many specimens of Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and others were recently donated to The University Museum, The University of Tokyo. His longicorn beetle collection contains a total of 1,673 specimens composed of seven specimens of Disteniidae and 1,666 specimens of Cerambycidae, arranged in 15 mid-sized, German-style specimen boxes. The majority of the specimens were captured by Mr. Kishida himself, and the remaining specimens by his collaborators. The collection data shows that these specimens were captured all over the Japanese archipelago from Hokkaido and Tohoku through Tokyo and its surrounding areas to Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Moreover, this collection includes a wide variety of longicorn beetles, covering common species such as Psacothea hilaris and Xylotrechus chinensis, popular species such as Necydalis and Mesechthistatus, relatively smaller species such as Pidonia and Sybra, to precious specimens of endangered species such as Stenygrinum quadrinotatum and Acalolepta degener,of which both used to be widely distributed in Japan.
The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, is currently databasing all insect collections and making them available through a series of publications as well as on the Internet. The "Catalogue of the Yasunori Kishida Insect Collection" is included as part of this project, and it was decided to publish the part covering longicorn beetles in the Material Reports series of the university museum and on the website (Inoue et al., 2017) since the databasing of the longicorn beetles’ part has been completed. The specific classification and identification of the catalogue mainly follow Obayashi & Niisato (2007), and also other sources of literature (The Japanese Society of Coleopterology, 1984; Hayashi et al., 1984). We hope that this information will contribute to various scientific fields such as taxonomy, morphology, biogeography and conservation biology, and highlight the significance of scientific specimens and museum collections to the public.
Acknowledgements
We express our sincere thanks to Mr. Yasunori Kishida for donating his insect collection to The University Museum, The University of Tokyo. Special thanks go to Mr. Neil Moffat for looking over the manuscript. We are also indebted to Mr. Kishida’s collaborators for providing many of the specimens in this collection.
References
- Inoue, A., Harada, K., Ito, Y. and Yago, M., 2017. Catalogue of the Yasunori Kishida Insect Collection, The University Museum, The University of Tokyo. Part I (Coleoptera: Disteniidae and Cerambycidae).The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Material Reports. (112): 1-178.
- Hayashi, M., Morimoto, K. and Kimoto, S. (Eds.), 1984. The Coleoptera of Japan in Color. Vol. IV. Hoikusha, Osaka.
- The Japanese Society of Coleopterology (Ed.), 1984. The Longicorn-Beetles of Japan in Color. Kodansha, Tokyo.
- Obayashi, N. and Niisato (Eds.), T., 2007. Longicorn Beetles of Japan. Tokai University Press, Kanagawa.