The Zoological Society of Japan held a board meeting on June 2, 2017. At the meeting, nominations for the 2017 Zoological Science Award candidates were received from the ZS Editorial Board. As a result of deliberations, the board decided to confer the 2017 Zoological Science Award to the following paper. Please also read about the selection process and criteria of the ZS Editorial Board. The reasons for the awards for each paper are also stated.

 Yoshitaka Oka, President, The Zoological Society of Japan

[Selection Progress Report]

On May 8, 2017, all Associate Editors and Advisory Board Members of Zoological Science were requested via e-mail to recommend candidate papers (one to several papers published in 2016 [Vol. 33], with a recommendation deadline of May 25). By May 26, a total of 42 recommendations were received from 1 Editor-in-Chief, 13 Associate Editors, and 4 Advisory Board Members, comprising 25 unique papers after excluding duplicates. Based on this list of recommended papers, the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors deliberated based on papers receiving multiple recommendations, the validity and significance of their scientific content, and their notable contributions to zoology. As a result, the following five papers are reported to the Board of Directors as award candidate papers.

 Award-Winning Paper

Migration of Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus) Wintering in Japan Using Satellite Tracking: Identification of the Eastern Palearctic Flyway Wenbo Chen, Tomoko Doko, Go Fujita, Naoya Hijikata, Ken-ichi Tokita, Kiyoshi Uchida, Kan Konishi, Emiko Hiraoka and Hiroyoshi Higuchi Zoological Science 33(1): 63-72
This is a study in which a total of 16 Tundra Swans, temporarily captured at Lake Kutcharo in Hokkaido, were fitted with transmitters, released, and tracked in detail via satellite regarding their migration routes (autumn arrival, spring return). Due to the large number of tracked individuals and the multi-year tracking (2009–2012), it is considered that non-fragmented data regarding Tundra Swan migration was successfully obtained. Furthermore, through the development of a novel method called the MATCHED (Migratory Analytical Time Change Easy Detection) method, the study succeeded in tracking the full picture of migration in detail, including the number of days required for migration, routes and distances, identification of wintering grounds, breeding grounds, and stopover sites, and the duration of stay at each. These data are evaluated as being not only scientifically interesting as fundamental knowledge, but also as making a significant contribution from the perspective of considering strategic conservation measures, such as narrowing down areas of high conservation importance.

Restructuring the Traditional Suborders in the Order Scleractinia Based on Embryogenetic Morphological Characteristics Nami Okubo Zoological Science 33(1): 116-123
Previous studies using molecular phylogenetics had revealed the existence of two major monophyletic groups within the order Scleractinia. However, adult traits such as skeletal and colony morphology could not clearly distinguish between these two groups, leaving the lower-level classification system fluid. As a result of comparative observations across multiple species, the author discovered that these two groups can be clearly distinguished by the presence or absence of a blastocoel during early development, and established new suborders corresponding to the two groups in this paper. Corals spawn only once a year, and the spawning seasons of many species were previously unknown. This study is based on 15 years of dedicated observations by the author, and its contribution to the development of scleractinian systematics is remarkable.

Comparative Analysis of Genome and Epigenome in Closely Related Medaka Species Identifies Conserved Sequence Preferences for DNA Hypomethylated Domains Ayako Uno, Ryohei Nakamura, Tatsuya Tsukahara, Wei Qu, Sumio Sugano, Yutaka Suzuki, Shinichi Morishita and Hiroyuki Takeda Zoological Science 33(4): 358-365
The role of DNA methylation remains largely unclear in fish, and much remains a mystery regarding variation among populations and its functions. In this paper, the authors used two genetically differentiated strains of medaka to comparatively analyze DNA methylation patterns and also discovered sequence motifs frequently found in regions with low methylation. This is an important research finding expected to serve as foundational information for future DNA methylation studies in other taxonomic groups. 

Production of Knockout Mutants by CRISPR/Cas9 in the European Honeybee, Apis mellifera L. Hiroki Kohno, Shota Suenami, Hideaki Takeuchi, Tetsuhiko Sasaki and Takeo Kubo Zoological Science 33(5): 505-512
The western honeybee is a social insect model used worldwide for research on insect social behavior and brain functions. This paper is the first in the world to demonstrate that genome editing technology can be applied to the western honeybee. The authors utilized the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system to target and successfully produce knockout individuals for a gene encoding one of the royal jelly proteins. This is a high-impact achievement that paves the way for molecular genetic research on insect social behavior using the western honeybee as a model. 

Wing Scale Orientation Alters Reflection Directions in the Green Hairstreak Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (Lycaenidae; Lepidoptera) Michio Imafuku and Naomichi Ogihara Zoological Science 33(6): 616-622
This is a unique paper revealing that the metallic luster of the Green Hairstreak (Chrysozepnyrus smaragdinus) differs in the direction of light reflection between the forewings and hindwings. The beautiful green sheen exhibited by males of this species is a structural color produced by scales. The wings of this species have the property of reflecting light forward, but for this to be achieved, it is not sufficient for the scales to simply be lined up; they must be curved in the appropriate direction. In this study, the researchers developed and analyzed a device that irradiates light from above while rotating the wings horizontally to examine the direction of the resulting light reflection. As a result, they found that when the butterfly assumes a natural posture, the direction in which light is reflected differs between the forewings and hindwings, and differences in the intensity of light reflection are also observed between them. They showed that the factor causing these differences is the morphological variation of the scales between the forewings and hindwings. Finding such differences within the wings of the same species is of great interest and represents a research achievement of high zoological value.