Satoshi Utsunomiya Explained

Satoshi Utsunomiya
Birth Place:	Ehime Prefecture
Field:	Paleontology
Workplaces:	Panasonic Osaka Museum of Natural History (Visiting Researcher)
Alma Mater:	Ritsumeikan University (Undergraduate) Kagoshima University (Graduate School)
Academic Advisors:	Kei Kizugawa Hideo Nakaya^[1]
Known For:	Discoveries of fossils like Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, Satsuma-yokuryu, dinosaur remains etc.

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]

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]

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) and Tamaki Sato (Professor at Kanagawa University), he published a thesis about Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu in 2019. 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.^{[9] [10]}

With Nakajima, he has also collaborated on other research, including the discovery of Spinosauridae fossils in Wakayama Prefecture,^[11] pterosaur fossils discovered in Kagoshima (commonly referred to as Satsuma-yokuryu),^[12] and the excavation and research of a dinosaur bone bed^[13] in Kagoshima Prefecture, among others.

Regarding Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, he handled everything from discovery and excavation to cleaning, research, and paper publication. The specimen of Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu is currently on permanent display at the Kagoshima Prefectural Museum.^[14]

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

Major discoveries

• Discovery of Satsuma-utsunomiya-ryu, the oldest Elasmosauridae in East Asia (2004, Kagoshima prefecture).
• Discovery of a domestically rare new species of coral fossil, Syringopora utsunomiyai (2005, Miyazaki prefecture).^[15]
• Discovery of fossils of a large Theropod teeth (2008, Ishikawa prefecture).^[16]
• Discovery of plant-eating dinosaur fossils of the Iguanodontidae (Kagoshima prefecture).
• Discovery of the mandible fossil of the largest Mosasaurid in Japan (2010, Osaka prefecture).
• Discovery of the first hybodont Lissodus found in Japan (2010, Ehime prefecture).
• Discovery of the first Spinosauridae fossil found in Japan (2018, Wakayama prefecture).
• Discovery of the first pterosaur fossil in Kagoshima Prefecture (Satsuma-yokuryu) (2020, Kagoshima prefecture).
• Discovery of the world's first Elasmosaurid pellet (2021, Kagoshima prefecture).
• Discovery of a dinosaur bone bed (2021, Kagoshima prefecture).
• Discovery of the oldest East Asian sea turtle fossil (Satsuma-mukashi-umigame) (2024, Kagoshima prefecture).^[17]

Career and academic contributions

Publications

• Satoshi Utsunomiya . March 2019 . Discovery of the Eastern Asia's Oldest Elasmosauridae (Reptilia, Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Myoso Formation in Shishijima, Nagashima-cho, Kagoshima, Japan . Bulletin of Osaka Museum of Natural History . Osaka Museum of Natural History . 73 . 23–35 . 10.20643/00001333.
• Takuya Konishi, Masahiro Tanimoto, Satoshi Utsunomiya Paleontological Research 16 (2), 79–87, June 2012
• Satoshi Utsunomiya . 2020 . Ammonites from the Upper Cretaceous Goshoura Group, Hegushi Formation, Shishijima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan . Chigaku Kenkyu (Journal of the Geological Society of Japan) . 66 . 1 . 5–14 .
• Masatoshi Goto . Takeshi Tanaka . Satoshi Utsunomiya . 2010 . On a tooth remain of Lissodus (Elasmobranchii) from the Taho Formation (Lower Triassic) in Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture, Southwest Japan . Chikyu Kagaku (Earth Science) . 64 . 3 . 111–116 . 10.15080/agcjchikyukagaku.64.3_111 . August 18, 2023.
• 伊藤謙 . 宇都宮聡 . 小原正顕 . 塚腰実 . 渡辺克典 . 福田舞子 . 廣川和花 . 髙橋京子 . 上田貴洋 . 橋爪節也 . 江口太郎 . March 2015 . <研究資料>日本の地質学黎明期における歴史的地質資料 : 梅谷亨化石標本群（大阪大学適塾記念センター蔵）についての考察 . Bulletin of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies . 0915-0900 . International Research Center for Japanese Studies . 51 . 157–167 . 10.15055/00005572.
• Yasuhisa Nakajima . Satoshi Utsunomiya . April 13, 2022 . 鹿児島県長島町獅子島の白亜系御所浦層群から産出した翼竜類化石 . Fossil Research . J-GLOBAL . 54 . 2–60.
• TANIMOTO Masahiro . UTSUNOMIYA Satoshi . 2010 . A dinosaur fossil from the Cenomanian Shishijima Formation in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwest Japan. Nippon Chigakukenkyu-Kai . Geological Literature Search (GEOLIS). 58 . 225–228.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Advisors - Hideo Nakaya. GSJ LD - Geological Survey of Japan Linked Data. (GSJ LD). 2023-08-11.
2. Web site: 宇都宮 聡（うつのみや さとし）略歴 . 2024-02-15 . www.tsukiji-shokan.co.jp.
3. Visiting Researcher at the Osaka City Natural History Museum. Research Report of the Osaka City Natural History Museum. Osaka Museum of Natural History. 2019-03-31. 2023-08-11 . 宇都宮 . 聡. . ウツノミヤ . サトシ . Utsunomiya . Satoshi .
4. Web site: 2019-09-22 . スピノサウルスの歯を見つけた会社員ハンター . 2024-02-15 . 日本経済新聞 . ja.
5. Web site: 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 . 2024-02-15 . 産経ニュース . ja.
6. Web site: 2010-12-18 . モササウルスの顎化石発見 国内最大級、大阪で . 2024-02-15 . 日本経済新聞 . ja.
7. Web site: 2015-01-29 . 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 . 2024-02-15 . BIG ISSUE ONLINE . ja.
8. Web site: The Elasmosauridae (Plesiosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Goshonoura Group, Shishijima Island, Nagashima, Kagoshima, Southwest Japan . 2023-08-11 . GSJ LD Released by the Geological Survey of Japan, AIST Linked Data . Geological Survey of Japan, AIST（産総研）.
9. Web site: 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 . 2024-02-15 . www.tcu.ac.jp.
10. News: Plesiosaur 'Pellet' Fossil: Does it Reveal Ecology Similar to Modern Birds and Crocodiles?. Asahi Shimbun DIGITAL . Tatsuyuki Kobori . 2021-02-06 . 2023-08-11.
11. Web site: 2019-03-14 . 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 . 2024-02-15 . 朝日新聞デジタル . ja.
12. Web site: 2021-08-26 . 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 . 2024-02-15 . 朝日新聞デジタル . ja.
13. Web site: 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 . 2024-02-15 . www.tcu.ac.jp.
14. Web site: Guide Map . Kagoshima Prefectural Museum . 2023-08-11.
15. Shuji . Niko . Tomio . Adachi . 2004 . Additional Material of Silurian Tabulate Corals from the Gionyama Formation, Miyazaki Prefecture . Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo, Series C . 30 . 47-54.
16. Web site: 国内最大の肉食恐竜の歯／石川、会社員が化石発見 . 2024-02-15 . 四国新聞社.
17. Web site: 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 . 2024-02-15 . www.tcu.ac.jp.