Asian Insect Information Center (AIIC)

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Rikuzen-Takata City Museum after the tsunami (2011.4.2)

Taking damaged specimens out of boxes (IPMM)

Rescued Toba Collection collected in 1899 (IPMM)

RDS is a specimen database of rescued specimens of the Rikuzen-Takata City Museum in Iwate Prefecture which were damaged from the Tsunami on 11 March 2011.

Insect specimens in the Rikuzen-Takata City Museum were kept in a storehouse on the first floor. The openings to the room were few, so there was little outflow of materials. Although water pressure from the tsunami was relatively low, specimen boxes were flooded and destroyed in the museum. The Iwate Prefectural Museum in Morioka City, the prefectural capital, was responsible for the Rikuzen-Takata City Museum, and made the decision to send damaged specimens to other museums in Japan for rescue. All of the damaged specimens would be sent out at the same time, and a manual for the rescue of specimens needed to be prepared. The primary objective for rescue was the removal of salt, and the secondary goal was sterilization. There were about 250 specimen boxes in the museum, and the Iwate Prefectural Museum could not treat them all at one time by themselves, so they approached the West Japan Natural History Museum Network and the Meeting of Insect Curators of Japan about the conservation efforts. Many museums and institutions were eager to help. In this way many insect specimens were rescued and their information is included in our database, including Mr. Genzo Toba’s Collection (he was born in Rikuzen-Takata and collected during the last-19th century) and also a collection from the area stricken by the Tsunami.

The RDS was constructed for a revival of stricken area including Rikuzen-Takata City Museum. Rescued insect specimens which suffered damage by seawater have not been well studied. The RDS is opened to the public for the fundamental information for the study.

The total number of specimens of the RDS at present is 13483 (February 28, 2013). Each record consists of 34 items according to the format of the Darwin Core of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), such as scientific name, country, collecting locality, collecting date, collector, etc.

The specimen rescue and database entry were conducted with the help of the following museums and institutes (abbreviated names in parentheses are support museums and institutes for database entry and editing):

The Hokkaido University Museum (SEHU), The Shirakami-Sanchi Institute for Environment Sciences of Hirosaki University (SSIESHU), Aomori Prefectural Museum, Iwate Prefectural Museum (IPMM), Kitakami City Museum, Forest Health Ichinoseki, Akita Prefectural Museum (AKPM), Tochigi Prefectural Museum (TPM), Gunma Museum of Natural History (GMNH), Gunma Insect World (GIW), Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba (CBM), Toyama Science Museum, Iida City Museum (ICM), Toyohashi Museum of Natural History (TMNH), Mie Pref. Museum, Lake Biwa Museum (LBM), Children’s Forest Minakuchi, Osaka Museum of Natural History (OMNH), Natural History Museum of Kishiwada City (KSNHM), Kaizuka City Museum of Natural History (KCMN), Itami City Museum of Insects (ICMI), (NPO) Society of Children and Insects, Kashihara City, Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History & Human History (KMNH), and Kyushu University (ELKU).

The RDS is managed by a text database management system SIGMA.

The RDS file is supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (Head Investigator: Osamu Tadauchi) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The use of data in this database is free of charge if the objective is academic study or educational purposes.

• Search RDS database
• How to Use
• Items of Data
• Example of a record
• Publications, Manuals and Explanations
• Copyright Notice
• Inquiries and Comments
• Link

Items of Data

Data and Tags are the Following 34 items.

Example of a record

Publications, Manuals and Explanations

Tadauchi, O., C. Fujii and I. Kanazawa, 2012. Overview of the quake’s effects on the Entomological Society in Japan. In The impacts of the Japan 3.11 earthquake and disaster on entomologists, research, and society. American Entomologist, 58 (3): 142-144.

Copyright Notice

Entomology Database Project Group (Head: O. Tadauchi, System administrator: H. Inoue, F. Kamitomo) and each support museum and institute (Head Editor: C. Fujii) for database entry hold the copyright on the entomology database RDS.

Inquiries and Comments

Inquiries and Comments about RDS Should be the Following E-mail Address.

Link

• Entomology Database KONCHU

• Asian Insect Information Center (AIIC)

  Type specimen database

  • ELKUType (Type specimen database based on the collection preserved in the Entomological Laboratory, Kyushu University)
  • TachikawaType (Dr. Tachikawa’s parasitic wasp type collection donated to Kyushu University)
  • M.ChujoType (Dr. M.Chujo’s Coleoptera Type Collection Donated to Kyushu University)

  Specimen database

  • Bee specimen database based on the collection preserved in the Entomological Laboratory, Kyushu University, except for Prof. Tadauchi’s foreign collection (BeeELKU)
  • Bee specimen database based on Dr. Hiromi Fukuda’s collection (BeeFukuda)
  • Bee specimen database based on collection of Central Asia by the Kyushu University Expedition (BeeCAsia)
  • Bee specimen database based on Prof. Tadauchi’s collection collected from foreign countries (BeeFTadauchi)
  • Specimen database based on the Parasitic Wasp Collection Preserved in the Entomological Laboratory, Kyushu University (ProctELKU)
  • Coleoptera specimen database based on Dr. Hiroyuki Sasaji’s collection (COLSasaji)
  • Specimen database based on the Coleoptera collection collected in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu by Mr. Isao Otsuka (COLOtsuka)
  • Specimen database based on the Coleoptera collection preserved in the Laboratory of Environmental Entomology, Ehime University (COLEUMJ)
  • Specimen database based on the Aphids prepared slide collection by Dr. Magoshiro Moritsu (APHIDMoritsu)