What a prodigious initiative that deserves to spread!
Like Takashi Ohya, it was around the age of 10 that the wonder of “birdwing butterflies” took hold of me when I discovered their splendor in an encyclopedia. The famous butterflies are at the origin of a passion that would mark my life. His magnificent book “Birdwing Butterflies” published in 1983 would make me forever rekindle this overflowing passion for ornithopters, for not only their beauty, but also the study. Throughout my research, Mr. Ohya’s works were widely consulted to enrich my knowledge and he credited with a large part of my journey.
In 1997, during a trip to Japan with my colleague Jean-Pierre Sclavo, our priority was to meet him. We wanted to see his impressive collection and thanks to his precious collaboration were able to take photos for our “Outstanding Birdwing Butterflies” book project (published in 2015). This extremely kind man had done everything to make our visit as pleasant and enriching as possible.
Once again, Mr. Ohya generously demonstrates this by realizing Dr. Yukio Yasui’s brilliant idea of producing a digital work featuring all the specimens in his reference collection, which will remain a morphological portrait of the era. Through the magic of the Internet, the entire world will have access to his colossal work to admire his specimens and to be able to study them. To all those who are passionate about ornithopters and other wonders of the evolution of life on earth, I strongly recommend taking advantage of the magnificent gift offered by Mr. Ohya represented by the “Digital Encyclopedia Birdwing Butterflies”.
30, Dec., 2024
Gilles Deslisle, Ornithopterist, Associate researcher, Insectarium de Montréal, Canada
Celebrating the Publication of the “Digital Encyclopedia Birdwing Butterflies”
The word “butterfly” evokes a variety of associations in different countries around the world, but roughly speaking, people in northern countries tend to think of small butterflies that flit about their feet, while people in southern countries seem to associate butterflies with large ones that flutter about the trees in a leisurely manner.
The Birdwings are the world’s largest and, without fear of being subjective, most beautiful butterflies living in Southeast Asia, and once seen in flight, they are unforgettable.
The authors have now completed the truly spectacular task of photographing in high resolution all species and subspecies of birdwing butterflies and publishing a digital encyclopedia. The authors have photographed a total of 3,286 specimens of the butterfly, which took them five years and four months to complete. Not only the dorsal side of the butterfly’s wings are illustrated, but also the ventral side.
Butterfly specimens deteriorate over time, but this photography will preserve their beauty almost forever. These things are impossible to achieve in a traditional paper butterfly book (such a book would be too heavy and insanely large to lift with both hands, and if it fell on your feet it would crush your fingers). Digital technology has made this possible. Will we soon be able to see lifelike birdwing butterflies flying around in a virtual forest of trees set up in our private library?
By the way, the specimens from the Ohya Collection, which served as the model for this photo shoot, will be preserved at the University of Tokyo’s Museum. In fact, my own insect collection is scheduled to be stored in the same place, so I was happy to know that I will have the honor of having my collection lined up in the same place in the near future.
January 11, 2025
Daizaburo Okumoto, French Literature, Professor Emeritus of Saitama University, Director of the “Fabre Insectarium”, Tokyo