Dear Members of the Zoological Society of Japan

We are writing to inform you that member Daiki Sato has requested the distribution of a direct mail.
Zoological Society of Japan Secretariat

From here
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Dear Members of the Zoological Society

Thank you for your continued support. I am Daiki Sato from Chiba University.
Here is the announcement for the upcoming 50th Digital Evolutionary Biology Seminar (online).

December 11 (Thu) 15:00- Dr. Ryoya Tanaka (Nagoya University)
What makes the brains of flies that "present gifts" different from other insects?
Under the title of, regarding the genetic and neural basis of fly courtship behavior,
He will speak mainly about the content published recently in Science.

If you wish to participate, please register from "Participation Application" on the homepage.
https://digitalevosemi.jimdofree.com
I would appreciate it if you could spread the word to anyone nearby who might be interested.

The 48th lecture by Dr. Yusuke Hibino on the taxonomy of sea snakes (fish) and
The missed-stream archive of Dr. Tappei Mishima's 49th lecture on the reproductive ecology of goldfish and its molecular basis is also available as an unlisted video.
Please register using the link at the bottom of the homepage.

We sincerely look forward to your participation.
I look forward to working with you.

We are looking for new people to join our management team. If you are interested, please contact us via our website.

—Details below—————————————————
Thursday, December 11, 2025, from 15:00 (JST)
Dr. Yoshiya Tanaka (Lecturer, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University)
What makes the brains of flies that "present gifts" different from other insects?
Abstract
Animals use diverse strategies to approach the opposite sex. Males of Drosophila melanogaster, a model species in behavioral genetics, court females by vibrating their wings to play a "love song." On the other hand, males of Drosophila subsilvestris exhibit a unique courtship behavior in which they regurgitate the contents of their digestive tract and present them to the female as a "gift." What kind of brain mechanisms produce such interspecific differences in courtship behavior?
To address this question, we performed a comparative analysis of the neural circuits in the brains of *Drosophila prolongata* and *Drosophila melanogaster* at single-neuron resolution. As a result, we discovered that the brain of *Drosophila prolongata* possesses connections between neurons—namely, a "wiring structure"—that play a crucial role in gift-giving. Furthermore, when this "wiring structure" was genetically reconstructed in the brain of *Drosophila melanogaster*, the males exhibited not only their conventional courtship behavior of singing love songs, but also regurgitating gut contents to present to the females. These results suggest that wiring patterns in specific neurons dictate courtship behavior (1). Additionally, we observed the courtship behavior of fruit flies that symbiotically associate with plants in the Ryukyu Islands and actively form swarms. As a result, we identified species that do not exhibit ritualistic behaviors such as "songs" or "presents," but instead attempt to mate immediately upon encountering a female (2). The evolutionary acquisition and loss of courtship rituals are thought to arise when evolutionary-ecological factors influence the genomic sequences that determine neural circuits. In this presentation, we aim to discuss the evolution of courtship behavior from the perspectives of both proximate and ultimate causes.

References
(1) R. Tanaka et al. (2025) Cross-species implementation of an innate
courtship behavior by manipulation of the sex-determinant gene. Science
(2) R. Tanaka et al. (2022) Mate Discrimination of Colocasiomyia
xenalocasiae and C. alocasiae (Diptera: Drosophilidae) as a Possible
Factors Contributing to Their Co-Existence on the Same Host Plant.
Journal of Insect Behavior

—Details up to here—

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/****************************************
Digital Evolutionary Biology Seminar
Mitsuhiko P. Sato
Kazusa DNA Research Institute
Daiki X. Sato
Chiba University
Wakamiya Takeshi
Institute of Science Tokyo
Takahisa Ueno
National Institute of Genetics
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