Dear Members of the Zoological Society of Japan
At the meeting of the Zoological Society of Japan Board of Directors held on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, starting at 1:00 PM, the Editorial Board of Zoological Science nominated candidate papers for the 2025 Zoological Science Award.
As a result of deliberation, the Council of the Zoological Society of Japan decided to present the Zoological Science Award to the following five papers.
The authors of the paper will be presented with a certificate of merit and a cash prize of 50,000 yen.
Zoological Science Award 2025
Histological Observation of Helmet Development in the Treehopper Poppea capricornis (Insecta: Hemiptera: Membracidae)
Kanta Sugiura, Tensho Terano, Haruhiko Adachi, Jin Hagiwara, Keisuke Matsuda, Kenji Nishida, Paul Hanson, Shigeru Kondo, Hiroki Gotoh
Zoological Science 41 (2): 167-176. https://doi.org/10.2108/zs230039
Field of Developmental Biology
In the evolution of animals, understanding the acquisition process of novel traits not found in other lineages is of great significance. As a first step, organizing the developmental process of novel traits can be said to be extremely important. While research on novel traits in insects includes studies on the horns of rhinoceros beetles and the mandibles of stag beetles, there are almost no research examples regarding the developmental process of treehopper horns. Because they are hemimetabolous insects, the mechanism of horn development is thought to differ from that of beetles and others. In this paper, the formation process of the structure called the helmet in a species of treehopper, Poppea capricornis, is described in detail, and by comparing it with Antianthe expansa, which has a simpler morphology, the paper discusses how species-specific structures arise. The morphological and histological descriptions are carefully executed, and the paper is expected to serve as a foundation for future research developments, making it highly evaluated.
A CatSper-Uninvolved Mechanism to Induce Forward Sperm Motility in the Internal Fertilization
Sayuri Goto, Tomoe Takahashi, Tae Sato, Fubito Toyama, Eriko Takayama-Watanabe, Akihiko Watanabe
Zoological Science 41 (3): 302-313. https://doi.org/10.2108/zs230046
Field of Reproductive Biology
This study reveals a novel motility regulation mechanism in newt sperm that does not depend on CatSper, a protein essential for sperm motility in mammals and many other animals. The process by which sperm are activated in response to factors contained in the egg jelly or a high-pH environment was verified through careful experiments using inhibitors and other agents, clearly demonstrating its association with motility. This study is a valuable example demonstrating that the molecular mechanisms of sperm motility vary significantly among species even within vertebrates, and it was highly praised as a meaningful achievement in understanding the evolutionary diversity of reproductive mechanisms.
Environment-Mediated Vertical Transmission Fostered Uncoupled Phylogenetic Relationships Between Longicorn Beetles and Their Symbionts
Yasunori Sasakura, Nobuhisa Yuzawa, Junsuke Yamasako, Kazuki Mori, Takeo Horie, Masaru Nonaka
Zoological Science 41 (4): 363-376. https://doi.org/10.2108/zs230034
Field: Diversity and Evolution
Longhorn beetle larvae are xylophagous, and in some species, yeast-like fungi are known to live symbiotically in symbiotic organs attached to the digestive tract. In this paper, 289 individuals representing 73 species across 61 genera of Japanese longhorn beetles were investigated, and the diversity of symbiotic fungi and symbiotic organs was reported. Although well-developed symbiotic organs are attached to the digestive tract in three subfamilies (Lepturinae, Necydalinae, and Spondylidinae), it was revealed that the symbiotic fungi do not necessarily reflect the phylogeny of the hosts, and the roles of the symbiotic fungi in larval growth were also examined. Species that secondarily lost symbiotic organs, as well as those lacking visible symbiotic organs but harboring specific symbiotic fungi, were also discovered, and the acquisition and evolution of symbiotic relationships are discussed. The paper was highly evaluated as a comprehensive and descriptively valuable study that will be cited for a long time to come.
Long-Term Heat Tolerance and Accelerated Metamorphosis: Hot Spring Adaptations of Buergeria japonica
Bagus Priambodo, Kento Shiraga, Ippei Harada, Hajime Ogino, Takeshi Igawa
Zoological Science 41 (5): 424-429. https://doi.org/10.2108/zs240011
Ecology
In this study, we conducted long-term heat tolerance experiments on tadpoles of the Ryukyu spadefoot toad (B. japonica), commonly known as the “hot spring frog,” and several other species within the same genus, under different temperature conditions.The results showed that B. japonica exhibited higher heat tolerance than other species in the same genus; in particular, the population from Serama Hot Spring demonstrated a high survival rate and accelerated development. However, at temperatures of 35°C or higher, the tadpoles were unable to survive until metamorphosis was complete.Furthermore, the study demonstrated that thermophilicity decreases as development progresses, suggesting that heat tolerance may in fact be limited to a specific stage during development. This research provides new insights into the high-temperature adaptation of hot spring frogs and was highly regarded.
Electromyography of Flight Muscles in Free-Flying Chestnut Tiger Butterfly, Parantica sita
Noriyasu Ando, Norio Hirai, Makoto Iima, Kei Senda
Zoological Science 41 (6): 557-563. https://doi.org/10.2108/zs240039
Physiology
This paper reports the development of a technique to record electromyograms from multiple flight muscles simultaneously by attaching a compact preamplifier to the thorax of a freely flying chestnut tiger butterfly. By analyzing the relationship between wing motion cycles and muscle activity, the authors found that the spike frequency per cycle differs significantly from that of hawkmoths, which have a high wingbeat frequency. Although there have been previous examples of measuring electromyograms from freely behaving insects, the achievement of measuring flight muscle activity in a lightweight species such as the chestnut tiger butterfly is significant. This work is highly praised for holding great promise for future advancements in elucidating the diversity of flapping flight in flying insects and its underlying locomotor mechanisms.
That's all.
Public Interest Incorporated Foundation, Zoological Society of Japan
