what was then the village of
Tomakomai
is a city and port in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the largest city in the Iburi Subprefecture, and the fourth largest city in Hokkaido. As of 29 February 2012, it had an estimated population of 174,216, with 83,836 households, ...
.
His career as a specimen collector took off in 1906, when he provided his services first to
Malcolm Playfair Anderson
Malcolm Playfair Anderson (6 April 1879 – 21 February 1919) was an American zoologist and explorer. Anderson took part in several scientific expeditions, and was chosen in 1904 to lead the Duke of Bedford's Exploration of Eastern Asia.
Ea ...
, then to
Alan Owston.
In 1906/7, Orii collected for Owston on the
Korean Peninsula and in
Shandong Province
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...
, China; this arrangement continued in 1910, when Orii collected specimens in
Yunnan Province.
In the years between, he travelled and collected in the
Kuril Islands, northern China and
Manchuria, and
Sakhalin.
In 1921, he collected for
Kuroda Nagamichi Kuroda (written: lit. "black ricefield") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*, Japanese painter
*Akinobu Kuroda 黒田 明伸, Japanese historian
*Chris Kuroda, lighting designer and operator for the band Phish and Jus ...
in the
Ryūkyūs.
Between 1925 and 1935, collecting for
Yamashina Yoshimaro
Marquis was a Japanese ornithologist. He was the founder of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology.
Biography
Yamashina was born in Kōjimachi, Tokyo, the second son of Prince Kikumaro Yamashina and Princess Noriko (Kujo) Yamashina. Through ...
, his travels took him again to Sakhalin, to the northern Kurils, Korea, the
Pacific Islands
Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...
(including
Palau,
Pohnpei
Pohnpei "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')" (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, Proto-Chuukic-Pohnpeic: ''*Fawo ni pei)'' is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei ...
, and the
Marshall Islands),
, and Manchuria, where he would also collect once again for Kuroda.
In 1936, he collected in the southern Ryūkyūs, and in 1944, around
Akkeshi
is a Towns of Japan, town located in Kushiro Subprefecture, Hokkaido. As of July 31, 2021, it has a population of 8,922, and an area of 734.82 km2. Lake Akkeshi is a List of Ramsar sites in Japan, Ramsar Site.
History
*Edo period – Was ...
and
Nemuro in eastern Hokkaidō.
The specimens he collected in these years number in the tens of thousands, including some 8,845 items from 556 species in the
Yamashina Institute for Ornithology;
other specimens are in the
Natural History Museum in
London,
Hokkaido University Faculty of Agriculture Museum, and
Tomakomai City Museum.
In total, as many as 14
species and 41
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
of mammal, and 6 species and 68 subspecies of bird were
described from
type specimens
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...
he provided.
Later in life he turned his hand to recording sightings of birds, participating in surveys for the
Forestry Agency
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
at
Lake Utonai and other lakes and marshes in the vicinity of his home.
Diaries
Orii left a large number of collection diaries — an important resource for ornithologists and mammalogists — which also include lively accounts of his expeditions, such as when, having spotted a rare bird on a list of specimens obtained by the
Whitney South Sea Expedition ship at the village office on
Pohnpei
Pohnpei "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')" (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, Proto-Chuukic-Pohnpeic: ''*Fawo ni pei)'' is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei ...
, he promptly collected and shipped a specimen back to
Tokyo, where
Takatsukasa Nobusuke
Duke , son of Hiromichi, was a Japanese nobleman and politician of the Meiji period (1868–1912) who served as a member of House of Peers in the Diet of Japan. Takatsukasa Nobuhiro was his brother, and Toshimichi was his son. A keen ornitholog ...
and
Yamashina Yoshimaro
Marquis was a Japanese ornithologist. He was the founder of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology.
Biography
Yamashina was born in Kōjimachi, Tokyo, the second son of Prince Kikumaro Yamashina and Princess Noriko (Kujo) Yamashina. Through ...
published the
long-billed white-eye
The long-billed white-eye (''Rukia longirostra''), known as Tiht in Pohnpeian, is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Its natural habitats are sub ...
(''Rukia longirostra'';
protonym: ''Cynnirorhyncha longirostra'') as a new genus and species a few weeks before
Ernst Mayr
Ernst Walter Mayr (; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher o ...
published
the same bird as ''Rhamphozosterops sanfordi''.
The collection diaries are compiled in a somewhat idiosyncratic fashion, interspersed with
English and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, and with names sometimes in
hiragana, sometimes
katakana; in 2013, they were published in a modern Japanese translation.
Death
Orii died in 1970, at the age of 87 by traditional
East Asian age reckoning.
Taxa named after Orii
The seven mammal
and ten bird
taxa named in honour of Orii Hyōjirō include:
*
Ryūkyū shrew (''Crocidura orii'';
protonym: ''Crocidura dsinezumi orii'')
*
Sakhalin hare (''Lepus timidus orii'')
*
Ezo flying squirrel
The Ezo flying squirrel (''Pteromys volans orii'') or ''Ezo-momonga'' ( ja, エゾモモンガ) is a subspecies of the Siberian flying squirrel. It is endemic to Hokkaidō, Japan, part of the region once known as Ezo. In the legends of the loca ...
(''Pteromys volans orii''; protonym: ''Sciuropterus russicus orii'')
*
Orii's least horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus cornutus orii'')
*
Palau starling (''Aplonis opaca orii'')
*
Yakushima jay (''Garrulus glandarius orii'')
*
Japanese light-vented bulbul (''Pycnonotus sinensis orii'')
* †
Daitō varied tit (''Sittiparus varius orii'')
*
Taiwan turtle dove (''Streptopelia orientalis orii'')
*
Rota kingfisher (''Todiramphus albicilla orii''; protonym: ''Halcyon chloris orii'')
*
Kuril brown-headed thrush (''Turdus chrysolaus orii'')
*
Iriomote pygmy woodpecker (''Yungipicus kizuki orii'')
See also
*
List of Ramsar sites in Japan
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. Adopted in 1971, it entered into force in 1975 and as of April 2022 had 1 ...
*
Species description
*
Binomial nomenclature
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orii, Hyoujirou
Japanese ornithologists
Japanese mammalogists
20th-century Japanese zoologists
1883 births
1970 deaths