I’ve recently come across pictures on websites that showed one dragonfly and a bee sleeping. Not together, I mean different pictures and different websites (I think). The pictures looked like they had been taken during the day. Insects don’t have eyelids, so how did the photographers know they were …

I think that a reduction of sensitivity to stimuli and reduced motion are the more important “tells”. Someone else may know more.

I’ve had the pleasure to personally observe a dragonfly at night (see link for the observation ). Anyone who has observed dragonflies during the day will know that they rarely stay still for long. The dragonfly I observed at night (during this year’s City Nature Challenge) was utterly motionless, an…

I once found several bees sleeping, hanging by their jaws from a flower stalk together early in the morning. It’s a funny thing to see but apparently a lot of them do it. I’m sure there are plenty of photos online of this. I’d hate to have to spend the night clinging to my bed with my teeth. :grin: …

Many taxa retract their antennae when sleeping but hold them erect when awake-but-motionless. Some taxa may also assume a folded or less erect posture when asleep. Note that while diurnal insect taxa tend to be always asleep at night many nocturnal ones are awake to some degree during the day. For …

I also hasten to add that for some mysterious reason many insects are highly unresponsive to external stimuli whether awake or asleep; S. mexicana does not cease singing or flee when approached, exposed to loud sounds, or even when a flashlight is shone into its face. It only exhibits alarm behavior…

[image] olrett: Not together, I mean different pictures Oh, good. I thought we were on the verge of a scandal.

Not the same as sleeping, but I’ve seen dragonflies (Libellula, Tramea) that were perched and torpid, either in very cool weather in the morning or following an afternoon thunderstorm that caused temperatures to plummet. They were unresponsive when prodded and positioned partly within a shrub and n…

Thank you all for your feedback and links. Much appreciated. Looks like I am hooked on this subject now. Has anyone seen this post: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/why-was-this-xylocopa-bee-so-fixated-on-one-place/24263/5 In a hot climate it makes sense (to me) to be keeping still and rest during…

Yes, that antenna posture I have noticed in some beetles; those with very long antennae that wouldn’t budge or take off with me around held them aligned along their body.

That clinging to a stalk was in fact shown in the bee pictures I saw. :-)

How can you tell an insect is sleeping?

Nature Talk

faerthen July 5, 2021, 4:17pm 18

Bees will hang onto flowers when it’s windy, too.

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How can you tell an insect is sleeping?

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