Convergent Evolution in Perching and Patrolling Site Preferences of Some Hilltopping Insects of the Sonoran Desert

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Abstract
Males of the pompilid wasp, Hemipepsis ustulata, defend palo verde trees on mountain ridges in the Sonoran Desert. The preferences of the wasps for different trees on one ascending ridge remained essentially the same over 4 spring flight seasons. The wasps preferred large trees high on the ridge. Other insects unrelated to the wasp behaved similarly and focused their territorial or non-territorial mate-searching on or near the same sites most preferred by the wasps. Convergent preferences of hilltopping male insects may reflect the capacity of the compound eye of insects to detect some distant landmarks more easily than others.

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