Recent parallel speciation in Antirrhinum involved complex haplotypes and multiple adaptive characters.

A role of ecological adaptation in speciation can be obscured by stochastic processes and differences that species accumulate after genetic isolation. One way to identify adaptive characters and their underlying genes is to study cases of speciation involving parallel adaptations. Recently resolved phylogenies reveal that alpine morphology has evolved in parallel in the genus Antirrhinum (snapdragons): first in an early split of an alpine from a lowland lineage and, more recently, from within the lowland lineage to produce closely related sympatric species with contrasting alpine and lowland forms.

Shared Mutations in a Novel Glutaredoxin Repressor of Multicellular Trichome Fate Underlie Parallel Evolution of Antirrhinum Species.

Most angiosperms produce trichomes-epidermal hairs that have protective or more specialized roles. Trichomes are multicellular in almost all species and, in the majority, secretory. Despite the importance of multicellular trichomes for plant protection and as a source of high-value products, the mechanisms that control their development are only poorly understood.