Taxonomic nomenclature is generally a difficult concept for novices to grasp simply because most people have limited opportunity to learn about it in the current educational system. One recent revolutionary event in Japan is the publication of the Japanese edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which is officially approved by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. There are now some additional manuals and dictionaries written in Japanese, which focus on taxonomic nomenclature and scientific names. These references are excellent resources to educate novices in taxonomy on the subject and should become widespread.

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[in Japanese]

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 In Japan, the educational system is approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The approximate number of class hours currently spent teaching “taxonomic classification” is only about 18 hours in six years of elementary school education and ten hours in the three years of junior high school education. To teach the concept, two or three types of derived annual dicotyledons and insects are studied in the third grade of elementary school, whereas selected spermatophytes and vertebrates are examined during the junior high school years. In senior high school, less derived cryptogams and invertebrates are covered at a basic level in the “Science synthesis B” which is one of the required optional subjects, and “taxonomy and systematics” may be learnt in the “Biology II” which is an optional subject. It is recommended here that the curriculum covering taxonomy should be strengthened further at all educational levels in Japan.

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 Polarizing a microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the fossil dinosaur eggshell fragments (titanosaurid from the Argentina) were composed from silica (quartz) and calcium carbonate (calcite). The mineral composition and detailed texture for the silicified dinosaur eggshell have been reported here. The quartz may be formed by the secondary substitution preserving an initial microstructure of the eggshell, and the calcite was seemed to be tertiary deposit filling spaces made by some micro-organic activity or else.

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 A total of 13 species distributed among 8 genera of fossil shark teeth are systematically described from the Middle Miocene and the Upper Pliocene marine sediments, at the Sakiyama area of Nanao City, in the Noto Peninsula, Japan. Newly found fossil teeth in the Middle Miocene glauconitic sandstone consist of Dalatias licha, Carcharias acutissima, Carcharias cuspidate, Isurus desori, Isurus hastalis, Isurus planus, Carcharocles megalodon, Parotodus benedeni, Carcharhinus spp.. The Carcharodon carcharias, Isurus hastalis, Carcharhinus cf. egertoni, Carcharhinus spp. and Sphrna sp. were found in the Upper Pliocene siltstone. These species inhabited through tropical or temperate climates at neritic or epipelagic areas. This is the first report to indicate that Isurus hastalis might have survived during Pliocene, although it was referred to be extinct in Late Miocene.

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