Pleco Biology: Some Pleco Species are so Diverse, and Others Aren't?

Some species of pleco within the aquarium hobby are so diverse in colouration and morphology/shape yet others aren't? But additionally some different species can look so similar. How can we make sense of this and understand it?
The green phantoms and blue phantoms look so similar yet Hemiancistrus subviridis and Hemiancistrus sp. 'L128' look so different in regards to colouration. Baryancistrus demantoides, the high finned green phantom isn't even closely related.
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References:
Armbruster, J. W., Lujan, N. K., & Taphorn, D. C. (2007). Four new Hypancistrus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from Amazonas, Venezuela. Copeia, 2007(1), 62-79.
Lujan, N. K., Armbruster, J. W., Lovejoy, N. R., & López-Fernández, H. (2015). Multilocus molecular phylogeny of the suckermouth armored catfishes (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with a focus on subfamily Hypostominae. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 82, 269-288.
Lujan, N. K., Winemiller, K. O., & Armbruster, J. W. (2012). Trophic diversity in the evolution and community assembly of loricariid catfishes. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12(1), 1-13.
Magalhães, K. X., da Silva, R. D. F., Sawakuchi, A. O., Gonçalves, A. P., Gomes, G. F. E., Muriel-Cunha, J., ... & de Sousa, L. M. (2021). Phylogeography of Baryancistrus xanthellus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae), a rheophilic catfish endemic to the Xingu River basin in eastern Amazonia. Plos one, 16(8), e0256677.
Py-Daniel, L. R., Zuanon, J., & Oliveira, R. R. D. (2011). Two new ornamental loricariid catfishes of Baryancistrus from rio Xingu drainage (Siluriformes: Hypostominae). Neotropical Ichthyology, 9, 241-252.
Werneke, D. C., Sabaj, M. H., Lujan, N. K., & Armbruster, J. W. (2005). Baryancistrus demantoides and Hemiancistrus subviridis, two new uniquely colored species of catfishes from Venezuela (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Neotropical Ichthyology, 3, 533-542.

[@TheFishRoom]

As always, love your work and knowledge sharing

[@FreshwaterIchthyology]

Thank you!

[@aquariumdelirium]

Plenty to discover Rebecca, and well explained 👍👍👍

[@FreshwaterIchthyology]

Thank you :)

[@FishNHistory]

It would be cool to hear more about the evolution of these genuses and how that lead to so much diversity overall. Like can we understand the ancestor of all Ancistrus for example?

[@b666nilsson7]

There is alot to be discovered and your explanations help. Good work, Becca 👍

[@FreshwaterIchthyology]

Thank you :)

[@samsonm1217]

Good to know that you are a professional and appreciate your knowledge.... cannot get enough of your knowledge!! As me also being a fish crazy person ❤🎉... Also want to know if plural form of fish is fish or fishes?

[@FreshwaterIchthyology]

Thank you :) Fishes for multiples of different species, fish for many of the same species.

[@samsonm1217]

@@FreshwaterIchthyology thank you for your response...can I follow you on Instagram... please share your iD

[@brandonbruhn8601]

Could you sketch out the family trees/groupings of your theories? I agree with the snowballs and hemis and others actually being the same species, it’d just be nice to have the visual😅

[@FreshwaterIchthyology]

I might do a video on that at some point, that's an interesting idea. I do have a video going through the published molecular phylogenies but they don't include L471 or L201.