Gorospe, Juan ManuelSalomón, LucianaArmijos-Barros, JorgeKantor, AdamKolář, FilipArnelas Seco, ItziarSklenář, PetrSchmickl, Roswitha2025-10-222025-10-222025-09Gorospe, J. M., L. Salomón, J. Armijos-Barros, et al. 2025. “ Are We Witnessing a Speciation Continuum? Evidence From Current and Past Gene Flow in the Genus Oritrophium s.s. (Asteraceae) From the Tropical High Andes.” Molecular Ecology e70095. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70095.0962-108310.1111/mec.70095https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/125245This study was supported by the Grant Agency of Charles University (GAUK) project No. 96121 to J.M.G.; the Czech Science Foundation GAČR project No. 20-10878S to R.S. and F.K.; the long-term research development project No. RVO 67985939 of the Czech Academy of Sciences; and the Bentham-Moxon Trust project No. BMT25-2018.Determining species boundaries is key for appropriately assessing biodiversity. However, the continuity of the speciation process makes delimiting species a difficult task, especially for recently diverged taxa. Furthermore, past introgression may leave traces that result in reticulate evolutionary patterns, challenging the estimation of species relationships. The fastest-evolving biodiversity hotspot on Earth is the Páramo. Its flora in the tropical high Andes is known for extraordinarily high species richness and endemism. However, the recent origin, fast diversification and complex taxonomy of many genera challenge species delimitation and phylogenetic reconstruction. In this study, we reconstructed phylogenetic relationships and addressed the role of introgression in the diversification of Oritrophium s.s. (Asteraceae) based on phylogenomic data. We combined genomic, phenotypic and ecological data to test species boundaries and compared trajectories across the speciation continuum within the taxonomically complex ‘O. peruvianum group’. We found that historical introgression played an important role in the evolution of Oritrophium s.s., and many of the taxa within the ‘O. peruvianum group’ are at various stages of speciation. These results highlight the importance of testing for introgression to understand the diversification of recently evolved groups. Likewise, they suggest that heterogeneous speciation trajectories associated with geographic isolation and secondary contact, possibly during the Pleistocene, contributed to plant diversity in the tropical high Andes.engAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/journal article1365-294Xhttps://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70095https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.70095open access575.8582.998575.2ddRADseqEcological nicheHistorical introgressionHyb-seqMorphometricsReproductive isolationSpeciation continuumGenéticaBotánica (Biología)EvoluciónEcología (Biología)2409 Genética2417 Biología Vegetal (Botánica)2417.13 Ecología Vegetal2417.20 Taxonomía Vegetal