Re: do fruit flies sleep? and how long?

Dear Andrew,

I am sorry it has taken so long for me to get this answer to you.  I tried 
twice, but lost the message each time!  I'm supposed to be a scientist, eh?     
Well, I asked two professors here at U. Cincinnati who work with flies...  
and I watched my own flies for a while...  ALSO, I looked in the Mad 
Scientist archives for similar questions.  Here is what I know:

Fruit flies have genes which determine their circadian rythms.  These and 
other fly genes can be found in the FLYBASE:
  
http://flybase.bio.indiana.edu:82:82

 My flies might be resting, while others are flying...  it is tough to 
tell.  They, and other insects, don't have eylids, of course...  so that 
doesn't give it away.  

These other answers were posted that seem to be from folks more informed 
than I am.  I hope this helps, if you have any other question, or some 
detail these don't cover, email me.  

Melanie Stegman,
Stegmami@email.uc.edu



Answers from the archives:


Re: Do any flies ever sleep during their lifetime?
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec98/912490158.Zo.q.html



Please do have a look at:
Do butterflies sleep?     
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec96/846539049.Zo.q.html

Do ants ever sleep?    
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec96/841965056.Zo.q.html

Do any insects sleep?     
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec96/841965056.Zo.q.html

And especially recomended see:
      
Do worms sleep?     
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar97/854542855.Zo.q.html