Asleep or astray? Paper wasps as viable sleep subjects

Insects can’t get “shuteye” and fail to snore, so how can we distinguish a sleeping insect from an insect in any other state? The loose use of the term “sleep” presents problems when identifying and learning from potentially unique sleep-related phenomena and too few non-model insects have been carefully characterized with respect to their sleep behavior. I identified relatively immobile states in which paper wasps (e.g., Polistes canadensis) displayed increased response thresholds to a vibratory stimulus and showed consequences of sleep deprivation. The objective of this study was to build a foundation for investigating sleep-related questions in paper wasps.