The rare occurrence of a reversion to an ancestral state following adaptive radiations of pollination syndromes suggests that changes in the ancestral developmental programme of flowers are common in this scenario.
Strelin et al. provide evidence that the latter took place during the recent diversification into different pollination syndromes (bee, hummingbird, and rodent pollination) of Caiophora (Loasaceae subfam. Loasoideae) in the central Andes. They use geometric morphometrics techniques to show that derived (Caiophora) species have divergent ontogenetic patterns of floral development from those observed for basal bee-pollinated species.
