When species hybridize, their genetic material recombines, and they can produce offspring with phenotypes that surpass those of their parents. Is this 'transgressive segregation' predictable? There is a phylogenetic component to certain traits or trait combinations being fixed in populations or species complexes. So when more similar species hybridize the extent of transgressive segregation should be less than when more distant species hybridize. This is indeed what the authors find in their litterature survey of reports of transgressive seggregation.
Stelkens RB & Seehausen O, Genetic distance between species predicts novel trait expression in their hybrids. Evolution 2009
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