Morisita, Masaaki (1913-1997)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Masaaki Morisita, Professor Emeritus of Animal Ecology at Kyoto University known as the proposer of I~-index ("Morisita index" in American and European literature), died in Kyoto on 25 February, 1997, at the age of 84. After receiving a Bachelor of Agriculture degree at the Entomological Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University in 1932, he continued his work on basic aspects of animal ecology at the Zoological Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University. There he collaborated with the late Kinji Imanishi, the leading primatologist in Japan, and the late Kunio lwata, a pioneer of evolutionary studies of subsocial and eusocial Hymenoptera. They moved their laboratory from the Faculty of Agriculture to the Faculty of Science. In the Zoological Laboratory, Morisita worked on distribution and social behavior of ants and published several papers in Japanese. Several years later, he became a teacher of biology in a middle school. At that time (1930 to 1940), it was difficult to find a position in universities or in research institutions even for especially promising young biologists.

PUBLICATIONS

 * Morisita, M. 1941. Notes on Camponotus herculeanus subsp. vagus var. yessensis Teranishi (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Mushi 13: 93-96


 * Morisita, M. 1945. Ants of the southern part of Hokkaido, Japan. Mushi 16: 21-28


 * Morisita, M.; Kubota, M.; Onoyama, K.; Ogata, K.; Terayama, M.; Yamauchi, K.; Sonobe, R.; Yamane, 1992. A guide for the identification of Japanese ants. III. Myrmicinae and supplement to Leptanillinae. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Tokyo: Myrmecological Society of Japan, 94 pp.