Satoshi Utsunomiya

Last updated
Satoshi Utsunomiya
Born1969 (age 55–56)
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Ehime Prefecture
NationalityFlag of Japan.svg  Japan
Alma mater Ritsumeikan University (Undergraduate)
Kagoshima University (Graduate School)
Known forDiscoveries of fossils like Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, Satsuma-yokuryu, dinosaur remains etc.
Scientific career
Fields Paleontology
Institutions Panasonic
Osaka Museum of Natural History
(Visiting Researcher)
Academic advisorsKei Kizugawa
Hideo Nakaya [1]

Satoshi Utsunomiya (born 1969) is a Japanese fossil collector and science writer. [2] He is an external researcher at the Osaka Museum of Natural History. [3] He is known as the " Salaryman Fossil Hunter ". [4]

Contents

The plesiosaur (also known as Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu) was named after the old regional name of the discovery site and the discoverer, Satoshi Utsunomiya. His other discoveries include a spinosaurid tooth fossil [5] and remains of a giant mosasaur. [6]

Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, elasmosaurid he discovered satsumautsunomiyariyuunoXia E .jpg
Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, elasmosaurid he discovered

Biography

Born in Ehime Prefecture. In 1992, after graduating from Ritsumeikan University, he joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (now Panasonic) as an employee. [7] He continued fossil collecting as a hobby while working as a company employee. As a lifelong pursuit, he conducted excavations of prehistoric creatures, discovering numerous large vertebrate fossils in various parts of Japan. These discoveries include Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, named after him, as well as dinosaurs (carnivorous, herbivorous, and piscivorous), mosasaur, pterosaur, and other major Mesozoic vertebrate fossils in Japan.

In 2004, for the research thesis on plesiosaur discovered in Kagoshima Prefecture, he enrolled in the master's program at Kagoshima University where the specimens were stored (2014). During his spare time as a company employee, he advanced the cleaning and research of the specimens. [8]

Under the guidance of Hideo Nakaya (then a professor at Kagoshima University) [8] and Tamaki Sato (Professor at Kanagawa University), he published a thesis about Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu in 2019. [9] This thesis clarified that it is the oldest Elasmosauridae in East Asia. Furthermore, during the cleaning process of Satsumautsunomiyaryu, he discovered foreign objects in its throat. In collaboration with Yasuhisa Nakajima of Tokyo City University, they announced the world's first plaeiosaur "pellet" fossil. [10] [11]

With Nakajima, he has also collaborated on other research, including the discovery of Spinosauridae fossils in Wakayama Prefecture, [12] pterosaur fossils discovered in Kagoshima (commonly referred to as Satsuma-yokuryu), [13] and the excavation and research of a dinosaur bone bed [14] in Kagoshima Prefecture, among others.

Regarding Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, he handled everything from discovery and excavation to cleaning, research, and paper publication. [9] The specimen of Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu is currently on permanent display at the Kagoshima Prefectural Museum. [15]

Furthermore, he has authored several works on paleontology and writes paleontology columns in newspapers. He also engages in lecture activities.

Major discoveries

Career and academic contributions

Publications

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "Advisors - Hideo Nakaya". GSJ LD - Geological Survey of Japan Linked Data. (GSJ LD). Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  2. ↑ "宇都宮 聡（うつのみや さとし）略歴". www.tsukiji-shokan.co.jp. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  3. ↑ 宇都宮, 聡.; ウツノミヤ, サトシ; Utsunomiya, Satoshi (2019-03-31). Visiting Researcher at the Osaka City Natural History Museum. Research Report of the Osaka City Natural History Museum (Thesis). Osaka Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  4. 1 2 "スピノサウルスの歯を見つけた会社員ハンター". 日本経済新聞 (in Japanese). 2019-09-22. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  5. ↑ INC, SANKEI DIGITAL (2019-03-14). "スピノサウルス類の化石発見 西日本初、和歌山". 産経ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  6. 1 2 "モササウルスの顎化石発見 国内最大級、大阪で". 日本経済新聞 (in Japanese). 2010-12-18. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  7. ↑ "クビナガリュウ発見！伝説の「サラリーマン化石ハンター」宇都宮聡さんに聞く". BIG ISSUE ONLINE (in Japanese). 2015-01-29. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  8. 1 2 "The Elasmosauridae (Plesiosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Goshonoura Group, Shishijima Island, Nagashima, Kagoshima, Southwest Japan". GSJ LD Released by the Geological Survey of Japan, AIST Linked Data. Geological Survey of Japan, AIST（産総研）. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  9. 1 2 3 Satoshi Utsunomiya 2019.
  10. ↑ "１億年前の首長竜に現代の鳥に似た習性 ─ 世界初、未消化で吐き出した"ペリット"を発見 ─｜東京都市大学". www.tcu.ac.jp. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  11. 1 2 Tatsuyuki Kobori (2021-02-06). "Plesiosaur 'Pellet' Fossil: Does it Reveal Ecology Similar to Modern Birds and Crocodiles?". Asahi Shimbun DIGITAL. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  12. ↑ "ミカン買いに行き、海岸の石蹴ったら恐竜の歯が出た：朝日新聞デジタル". 朝日新聞デジタル (in Japanese). 2019-03-14. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  13. 1 2 "鹿児島の海岸に1億年前の翼竜化石 「薩摩翼竜」と命名：朝日新聞デジタル". 朝日新聞デジタル (in Japanese). 2021-08-26. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  14. 1 2 3 "新恐竜産地・鹿児島県長島町獅子島から恐竜化石のボーンベッド発見！｜東京都市大学". www.tcu.ac.jp. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  15. ↑ "Guide Map" (PDF). Kagoshima Prefectural Museum. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  16. ↑ Shuji, Niko; Tomio, Adachi (2004). "Additional Material of Silurian Tabulate Corals from the Gionyama Formation, Miyazaki Prefecture" (PDF). Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo, Series C. 30: 47–54.
  17. ↑ "国内最大の肉食恐竜の歯／石川、会社員が化石発見". 四国新聞社. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  18. ↑ Masatoshi Goto, Takeshi Tanaka & Satoshi Utsunomiya 2010.
  19. ↑ "日本最古のウミガメ類の化石を鹿児島県で発見 ─ 初期ウミガメの放散過程の解明に期待 ─｜東京都市大学". www.tcu.ac.jp. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
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