Yukimitsu Tomida
National Museum of Nature and Science
3-23-1 Hyakunincho
Shinjukuku, Tokyo 169-0073
Japan

Yukimitsu Tomida, interested in fossils since he was 13 years old, attended and graduated from the Department of Geology, Yokohama National University. While studying paleontology, he met Tokio Shikama, one of the leading vertebrate paleontologists in Japan.  From there, he went to the Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona for his PhD, where he studied vertebrate paleontology, especially of fossil mammals, under the direction of Everett H. Lindsay.  He first met Rep at the same time period in Tucson, Arizona. Since 1981, he has been working as a curator (now senior curator) on fossil mammals at the National Museum of Nature and Science.  His research interest has been evolution of small mammals and paleobiogeography, and he has concentrated his time especially on lagomorphs for the last ten years.