Special exhibition “Jadeite” was held in National Science Museum from November 2004 to February 2005. For the special exhibition, jadeite-bearing rocks were collected from all the ten localities in Japanese Islands and many gemstones in jadeite-deposits in the world were purchased or donated. Jadeite rock specimens in NSM are now around two hundreds due to this new collection. In addition to this increase of collection, it is worth to note that NSM and Fossa Magna Museum discovered three new minerals from jadeite-rocks at Itoigawa area; itoigawaite, rengeite, and matsubaraite. This is an example of special exhibition as driving force for the enhancement in collection building.
The fossil human remains from the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area have played a major role in defining the origins of Aboriginal Australians. The Willandra record has also contributed significantly to our understanding of modern human origins in Australasia. They are amongst the earliest modern human remains in the region, Lake Mungo 1 and 3 dating sometime before 40,000 years ago, while over one hundred other individuals date to the time around the Last Glacial Maximum. Many burials are still eroding from the Willandra, and present an opportunity to learn more about the region. The erosion of burials and the potential for further research also presents a challenge in a social environment where repatriation is a key social and political issue. Collaborative research is perhaps one key to developing a practical solution to some of these issues. In this paper I provide a summary of the history of discovery at the Willandra and discuss how the human fossil record fits into current models of human evolution. The paper will also include a brief discussion on recent research and how this has proceeded with support from the Three Traditional Tribal Groups of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area. Finally I shall discuss the future of the collection in an environment where repatriation has become the main practice of many Australian museums.
A biosystematic study of the Palearctic species of the myrmecophilous genus Pella (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae, Lomechusini, Myrmedoniina) is presented. The adult morphology of Pella is investigated into details in comparison with several other taxa of the Lomechusini. Pella is taxonomically revised, and is arranged as a distinct genus. Myrmelia, Pellochromonia and Lepla, formerly treated as subgenera of Zyras, are synonymized with Pella. Forty-one species including 15 new species (Pella horii, P. kidaorum, P. cooterorum, P. jelineki, P. schillhammeri, P. kinomurai, P. primorskyiana, P. hlavaci, P. iberica, P. kishimotoi, P. coreana, P. plutenkoi, P. intermedia, P. masakoae, P. zhoui) are recognised in the genus, arranged into 16 species-groups and redescribed/described with bionomical and host ant information. The following junior synonymies are proposed: Zyras (Pella) micropterus ( P. jureceki), Z. (P.) almaatensis ( P. bohaci), and Z. (P.) esau ( P. cinctipennis). Seven species are excluded from Pella, newly assigned to the other genera/subgenera and redescribed. They are: Zyras (Zyras) coloratus, Z. (Z.) iridescens, Z. (Z.) quasar, Z. (Glossacantha) ceylonicus, Z. (G.) reelsi, Myrmoecia urartu, and Dvorakatheta wrasei (n. gen.). Life cycles and behaviour of the Japanese species of Pella are shortly reported based on the field and labora-
Somatic chromosomes of fourteen species of Cycas (Cycadaceae, Cycadales; Stevenson, 1992) were compared by the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method using 5S ribosomal DNA (5S rDNA) probes. The fourteen species of Cycas showed the same chromosome number of 2n 22, and a similar karyotype consisting of 4 st, 12 t, 4 sm and 2 m chromosomes. In the FISH comparison, C. revoluta, C. taitungensis, C. wadei, C. diannanensis and C. micholitzii exhibited a 5S rDNA site on two t chromosomes in a metaphase complement. On the other hand, C. siamensis, C. circinalis, C. cairnsiana, C. couttsiana, C. media, C. megacarpa, C. micronesica and C. thouarsii exhibited a 5S rDNA site on four t chromosomes in a metaphase complement. The two cytological groups based on the number of 5S rDNA agreed with the taxonomic treatment and phylogenetic hypothesis suggested by Hill (1996, 2004), but disagreed with those by De Laubenfels and Adema (1998). Recognition of the genus Epicycas as discrete from Cycas is not justified on the basis of cytology.
In the 16 years since John Ling published an overview of cetacean research in Australia, there has been considerable information emerge on the biology of marine mammals. Several books have been published, and workshops held, reviewing aspects of marine mammal biology in Australia. For cetaceans, there have been numerous studies on live animals, human impacts and ecology. Some museum collections have expanded considerably yet there are many difficulties in funding museum work. For pinnipeds, there is a good knowledge of distribution and abundance. There have been recent attempts by the Australian government to co-ordinate data and specimen collecting from stranded marine mammals. Research into animal husbandry and medicine of marine mammals is restricted to the few oceanaria that still keep cetaceans and pinnipeds. Two dugongs are captive, with some information available on husbandry, growth and development. Collecting data on the pathology and toxicology of wild marine mammals has been carried out by some researchers but correlating the two is difficult because of specimen decomposition in most cases. Some new information on the anatomy and physiology of Australian marine mammals has been made available in recent years. One of the areas of increasing research effort is that of natural history and ecology. Diet has been researched in traditional and new ways, with a view to understanding the trophic position that pinnipeds hold in the ecosystem and the possibility of competition with commercial fisheries. Considerable emphasis has been placed in recent years on research that will benefit species management, in particular the direct and indirect effects of human activities. Workshops are held to refine ways of disentangling large whales but little effort is made to research ways of avoiding small cetacean entanglements. Studies have been made of dolphin/finfish farm entanglements and some recommendations adopted on how to reduce mortalities. A growing field of pinniped research involves determining the future impact of the increasing population of the New Zealand Fur Seal on commercial fisheries and finfish aquaculture. Taxonomic research includes morphologic and genetic studies of Australian marine mammals. Recent examples include: Orcaella, Tursiops, Delphinus and Balaenoptera acutorostrata (dwarf form) with studies in progress on Sousa. Members of the family Otariidae have been revised in a
Recent fossil and genetic studies generally support the Recent African Origins Theory as explanatory model of the origins of modern humans. However, the current fossil evidence is still in- sufficient to reject the competing claim regarding Australasia, that is, the idea of continuity between Javanese Homo erectus and modern aboriginal Australians. Recent discoveries of new Homo erectus fossils from the Sambungmacan region, Central Java, shed new light on this issue. Preliminary stud- ies suggest their intermediacy, both chronologically and morphologically, between the earlier and later groups of Javanese Homo erectus. The evolutionary trajectory of Javanese Homo erectus depict- ed from the more complete fossil record including the Sambungmacan specimens supports disconti- nuity between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens in Australasia.
