Phylogeny and molecular identification
The gene tree of the mitochondrial COI gene of species of theGonipterus scutellatus complex (Fig. 2) showed that the Ecuadorian samples are nested within the clade of Gonipterus platensis . The Ecuadorian samples were identical among them and showed no variation with most of the other G. platensis in the clade. In fact, across the dataset, G. platensis was one of the least genetically diverse species (see nucleotide diversities, π, in Fig. 2), despite being the one with the most representation of DNA sequences. On the other hand, G. notographus and G . sp. 2 were the most genetically diverse species. Note that one sample, FJ888583_co58, here designated as G. aff. notographus , was placed outside theG. notographus clade.