Understanding sleep is the key to realizing its significance for all organisms said to sleep, including humans. Sleep is found in some form by, arguably, every vertebrate examined, as well as by the several invertebrate species tested. Honey bees, paper wasps, fruit flies, a crayfish, and species of cockroaches, scorpions, and a cuttlefish all exhibit a sleep state. If honey bees sleep, how might sleep operate in the setting of the society? Few studies have examined the unique aspects of sleep within a society, despite the obvious and testable possibilities relating to communication, division of labor, or predation avoidance. I investigated interactions between sleep and sociality (How might living in a society affect an individual’s sleep, and how might an individual’s sleep affect a society?) in European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) to answer questions relating to WHO sleeps within a society, and WHEN resource allocation affects sleep. Investigating sleep with potential behavioral and ecological adaptations in mind, I offer a social context to the sleep phenomenon.

I made all observations in darkness using red lamps or infrared videocameras in Ithaca, New York with honey bee colonies acquired and maintained by Thomas Seeley.