A posthumous work Animal Evolution in Changing Environments with Special Reference to Abnormal Metamorphosis (1987) by a great authority on insect morphology, the late Dr. Ryuichi Matsuda (1920-1986), has been re-evaluated recently by many evolutionary biologists especially in the fields of the so-called 'evo-devo' (evolutionary developmental biology: e.g. Hall 1999; West-Eberhard 2003; Hall et al. 2004 eds.) and 'eco-evo-devo' (ecological evolutionary developmental biology: e.g. Gilbert & Epel 2009). Matsuda himself named his fundamental idea of animal evolution 'pan-environmentalism'. Based on a historical survey of Matsuda's works (a total of 92 titles including original articles, reviews, and books compiled by Suzuki 1988b), the background of his 'Pan-environmentalism' was outlined.

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Many species of animals were discovered from a natural nest of the Oriental white stork, Ciconia boyciana Swinhoe, in Hinado, Toyooka, Hyogo Pref., Japan: Stylommatophora: Limacidae: Lehmannia valentiana (Ferussac); Philomycidae: Meghimatiurn fruhstorferi Collinge, Haplotaxida: Megaescolecidae: Pheretina sp., Isopoda: Procellionidae: Porcellio scaber Latreille, Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae sp., Dermaptera: Anisolabididae: Gonolabis marginalis (Dohrn), and Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae sp.; Scarabaeidae: Anthracophora rusticola Burmeister, Protaetia brevitarsis (Lewis), and Eophileurus chinensis (Faldermann). This is the first report of animals other than A.rusticola and P. brevitarsis in a bird nest. In northern Hyogo Pref., A. rusticola adult flew into the nest in early May, deposited eggs, and the larvae developed, emerging until early September. The adults left the nest and overwintered at another hibernation site. A detritus food chain consisting of many scavengers and some predators was identified in the C. boyciana nest.

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Megachile kyotensis Alfken is a small leaf-cutting bee species endemic to Japan, with a univoltine life cycle occurring from mid July to mid September. Its nesting biology and nest architecture were studied in Nasukarasuyama, Tochigi Pref., central Japan from 2009 to 2011. This is the first authentic record of the nesting biology for this species. Nest burrows were excavated by the bee herself in brownish, loamy soil of the gentle slope. The burrows were 7-8 mm in diameter and 5-7 cm long from the entrance to the bottom of the deepest brood cell. In completed nests 3-6 branch burrows diverged from the main burrows. Entrance closure and burrow filling with leaf pieces were sporadically observed in the completed nests. The number of brood cells per branch burrow differed among nests. The number of brood cells per nest was 4-10 (mean 6.0), which was relatively large among soil-burrowing, leaf-cutting bees. Several innermost leaf pieces of both cell cups and cell caps were firmly stuck together using some adhesive substance. Completed cells were made of five different types of leaf pieces: A-1 large, oval-shaped; A-2 small, oval-shaped; A-3 small, oval-shaped, used for cell bottom; B-1 round-shaped; and B-2 semi-round shaped. A-type pieces were used for cell cups and B-type ones for cell caps. These leaf pieces were very small, probably corresponding to the body size of this species. The oval-shaped pieces were relatively uniform in size, 85% ranging from 12.1 to 15.0 mm in length. The mean number of leaf pieces per cell was 17.4 (10.8 for the cup and 6.6 for the cap), which was much less than those in other soilburrowing, leaf-cutting bees except M. rixator sakishimana Yasumatsu et Hirashima. In M. kyotensis all leaf pieces were used so as that the upper side of leaf was directed toward the inside of brood cell. On the average, the cocoon size was 10.5×5.6 mm in females and 9.8×5.5 mm in males, and the cocoon wall was 0.11 mm in thickness. A cleptoparasitic fly, Miltogramma angustifrons (Townsend) (Sarcophagidae), and a cleptoparasitic blister beetle, Zonitis japonica Pic (Meloidae), were recorded from the nests of M. kyotensis. The former was an important enemy, attacking nine out of 30 brood cells.

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Five adults of Anthracophora rusticola, which breeds in bird nests, and one unidentified larva of scarabaeoid beetle were found in a breeding nest with a chick of the Mountain Hawk-Eagle on 6 June 1999 in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. Two adult beetles were collected and found to be males by microscopic examination. They are considered to be hibernated adults because of their life history composed by past information of this species, and the males might be waiting females came flying for oviposition to mate with them.

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Few Kushiro residents have recognized natural history specimens in the Kushiro City Museum to be their own collections, although I have been emphasizing that those specimens are highly valuable through various activities. The result suggests one of the most important subjects of how to maintain and enhance the collections of specimens in regional museums. As the most of the administration cost for regional museums is mainly depending on the residents' taxes, regional museums have to get inhabitants agreements. Moreover, this paper describes two major items about the task and proposal for presenting and promoting the activities of preserving the natural history specimens through museums. One is about guidebooks, and the other is about silent majorities. These realizations have been made clear also through my attempts.

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My website "Cicadae in Japan" was awarded the 2008 Japan Entomological Society Akitsu Prize. This site introduces cicadidae-list of Japanese cicadas, explanations, photographs and calling songs of each species.

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