Message

Despite 260 years of effort of taxonomy, the species diversity of insects remains still obscure. Even in your back yard, you will easily find small insects scientifically unnamed. Before further researches or preservation of endangered species, we need to define and name these species, so to be recognized in the public.  

Taxonomy is the science to investigate the diversity of life directly. I study taxonomy of insects (Diptera and Mecoptera), mainly using morphological technique.

Let’s investigate the diversity and profundity of the life together. 

Research Theme

[Taxonomy of Diptera and Mecoptera] I investigate faunae of Diptera (Nematocera) and Mecoptera in the temperate Asia, Russia and North America (Fig. 1, 2). 

[Insect diversity of the subnivean zoon] Some insects live in the small and dark spaces below snow cover through winter. Such spaces are called subnivean zone. I have been investigating the subnivean insect faunae in the heavy snow areas of Hokkaido and Honshu (Fig. 3).

[Cataloging Japanese insects] As a project of the Entomological Society of Japan, I have been engaged in cataloging the Japanese insects.

[caption id="attachment_8846" align="aligncenter" width="440"] fig.1 collecting in field[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8847" align="aligncenter" width="440"] fig.2 Scorpionflies, Mecoptera[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8848" align="aligncenter" width="440"] fig.3 Investigating subnivean fauna[/caption]

Education & Appointments

1999–2010　Tochigi Prefectural Museum (Utsunomiya) culator/entomology.

2010–  The Shirakami Institute for Environmental Sciences, Hirosaki University.

Publications

Nakamura T (2014). Immature stages of Tipula (Emodotipula) holoteles Alexander, 1924 (Diptera, Tipulidae). SHIRAKAMISANCHI 3: 33-37.

Seki A and Nakamura T (2014). Horse fly fauna of the Shirakami Mountains and adjacent areas, Honshu, Japan (Diptera, Tabanidae), a preliminary report. SHIRAKAMI-SANCHI 4: 20-26.

Nakamura T, et al. eds. (2014). Catalogue of the Insects of Japan, vol. 8, Diptera. Touka Shobo, Fukuoka.

Fitzgerald SJ and Nakamura T. (2015). New record of Plecia longiforceps Duda, 1934 from Yaeyama Islands, Japan (Diptera: Bibionidae). Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology 21(3): 351-354.

Nakamura T, Baek H and Kato D (2016). First Record of the Genus Prionocera Loew, 1844 from the Mainland of Japan (Diptera, Tipulidae). Makunagi / Acta Dipterologica (27): 11-16.

Nakamura T, et al. eds. (2016). Catalogue of the Insects of Japan, vol. 5, Neuropterida, Mecoptera, Siphonaptera, Trichoptera and Strepsiptera. Touka Shobo, Fukuoka.

Nakamura T, et al. eds. (2017). Catalogue of the Insects of Japan, vol. 3, Palaeoptera. Touka Shobo, Fukuoka.

Laboratory

See the website of our center; http://www.hirosaki-u.ac.jp/shirakami/english/