Itami City Museum of Insects

Itami City Museum of Insects (Japanese: 伊丹市昆虫館, Itami-shi konchūkan) is an insectarium in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

Itami City Museum of Insects

伊丹市昆虫館
Itami City Museum of Insects
Established	1990
Location	Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
Coordinates	34°47′29″N 135°23′41″E
Type	Insectarium
Director	Kiyoichi Okuyama
Owner	Itami City
Website	https://www.itakon.com/

History

The insectarium seen from the opposite bank of Koyaike Pond. The dome-shaped building is a butterfly greenhouse.

The museum opened in 1990 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Itami City. Initially, the Itami Park Greenery Association managed the facility, but the association was dissolved at the end of March 2013 and the museum moved under the management of Itami City, and is managed by Itami City Cultural Promotion Foundation. The first museum director was Azusa Tanaka, and since April 2012, Kiyoichi Okuyama.^[1]

Itami City Insectarium Friends' Association is an organization that helps the experience at the museum to be enjoyable. Upon presenting a "clover card" issued to preschoolers and elementary and junior high school students residing in municipalities of Itami, Takarazuka, Kawanishi, Sanda, and Inagawa-cho, children could enter the museum free of charge.^[2] However, the clover card was abolished at the end of March 2014.^[3]

In 2006, the museum was one of the organizers of the Singing insects and Gocho event that began in Itami.^[4]

In 2011, the museum carried out restoration work on insect specimens held by the Rikuzentakata City Museum in Iwate Prefecture, which were damaged in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[5]

Insectarium

Floor 1

• Butterfly greenhouse
• Ecological exhibition room
• Exhibition room 1
• Video hall
• Special exhibition room

Floor 2

• Study room
• Exhibition room 2

Butterfly greenhouse

The dome-shaped butterfly greenhouse houses a total of about 1,000 butterflies from 14 different species living in Itami and Okinawa.^[6] Below are some of the butterfly species found at the museum.

• 
  Idea leuconoe
• 
  Byasa alcinous (male)
• 
  Euploea mulciber (female)
• 
  Salatura genutia (male)
• 
  Parantica sita (female)
  
• 
  Papilio xuthus
• 
  Byasa alcinous (male)
• 
  Kallima inachus
• 
  Euploea mulciber (breeding)
• 
  Euploea mulciber (male)
• 
  Ideopsis similis

References

1. Itami-shi Konchukan-pen. Japan: Itami City Museum of Insects. 2015. Itami-shi Konchukan Kenkyu Houkoku Dai 3 Go.
2. "伊丹市ウェブサイト ｜ クローバーカードとひょうごっ子ココロンカード (Itami City)". 2013-06-06. Archived from the original on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
3. "クローバーカードを廃止しました". Itami City. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
4. Noboru, Sakamoto. "Chiiki renkei, shisetsu renkei ni yoru jigyō no tenkaiーnakumushi to gōmachiー (地域連携、施設連携による事業の展開ー鳴く虫と郷町)". Bulletin of Japan Society for Museum Management. March 2009, No. 13.
5. "伊丹市昆虫館における陸前高田市立博物館被災昆虫標本の修復作業について" (PDF). Itami City Museum of Insects (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-05-30.
6. Sakamoto, Noboru (2011-04-19). "全国科学博物館協議会『全科協ニュース』17号 (まちへ出ておこなった地域連携、施設連携の事業 〜鳴く虫と郷町〜)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-04-19. Retrieved 2021-04-01.