Satoshi Utsunomiya

Satoshi Utsunomiya (born 1969) is a Japanese fossil collector and science writer. He is an external researcher at the Osaka Museum of Natural History. He is known as the "Salaryman Fossil Hunter".

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 and remains of a giant mosasaur.

Biography Born in Ehime Prefecture. In 1992, after graduating from Ritsumeikan University, he joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (now Panasonic) as an employee. 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.

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.

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

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). Discovery of fossils of a large Theropod teeth (2008, Ishikawa prefecture). Discovery of plant-eating dinosaur fossils of the Iguanodontidae (Kagoshima prefecture).

Career and academic contributions Publications