Nectar Pleasure

[speckled wood]

I have just been pondering an old photo of a bluebottle making a special effort to access the nectar in a flower.
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...ngOn_thumb.jpg
It it notable that particular flowers attract insects more than others and that in some cases there is a very special attraction Buddlia being one example .... what I wonder is wonder is exactly what is going on in the "minds" of some of the insects are they actually experiencing "pleasure"? If it was a simple matter of obtaining food they would simply visit the first flower that offers them enough food for their needs yet they will actually ignore good nectar sources to go to other flowers simply because they attact them more, in a animal with a brain the size of a pin head should there be enough there to allow for what is obviously a food source that seems to be giving them "pleasure"?

[nightshade]

The offer of nectar may make an insect vunerable to particular predators
so they move on to a safer area,there are possibly many more factors
the nectar may be tainted,stale or exhausted,time of day,learning curve
(insects experience) pleasure?not too sure about that one nice to think
that it is happening though

[iainstott]

I think in the case of many insects it's an evolutionary thing - insects that exhibit a form of behaviour whereby they are attracted to a flower that offers more, or better quality, nectar are fitter and so they pass their genes on, so that the next generation show a greater affinity overall for that plant, hence the great abundance of co-evolved insect/flowering plant species. Although buddleia isn't native, perhaps it produces many different pheromones that attract a multitude of insects. Although insects are exhibiting a form of 'choice', I think in many cases it's an unconscious one, wired into their genome and based on the ability of plants to produce visual/chemical signals to attract them.