In our new paper published in Molecular Ecology we generated chromosome-level genome assemblies for three Vipera species and whole-genome sequencing data for 94 samples representing 15 Vipera lineages. This comprehensive dataset allowed us to disentangle the phylogenomic relationships of this genus, affected by mito-nuclear discordance and pervaded by ancestral introgression. Population-level analyses in the Iberian Peninsula, where the three oldest lineages within Vipera meet, revealed signals of recent adaptive introgression between old-diverged and ecologically dissimilar species, whereas chromosomal rearrangements isolate species occupying similar niches. Finally, using transcriptomic and proteomic data, we characterised the Vipera toxin-encoding genes, in which opposing selective forces were unveiled as common drivers of the evolution of venom as an integrated phenotype. Access full paper on this link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.70019


