Brassolis isthmia Bates, 1864

Bristow, C. Roger, 2008, A review of the genus Brassolis Fabricius in Colombia and Ecuador with description of two new taxa (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae), Zootaxa 1806 (1), pp. 47-58 : 49

Brassolis isthmia Bates, 1864

Neither sex of B. isthmia has a hindwing band (Carla Penz, pers. commn., informs me of two male specimens from Panamá in the FLMNH that have a very faint hindwing band). All isthmia subspecies have a broad, diagonal, orange, forewing band that crosses the apical part of the cell, but encloses one or two small, dark brown spots at the cell apex. On the hindwing underside, there are three (in some specimens only two) sub-marginal ocelli. Of these spots, the distal one which can be round or pear-shaped, has an inner, narrow, well-defined, dark brown line, the median one is rounder, much smaller, indistinct (virtually absent in some specimens, especially females), and has only a diffuse brown ring, whilst the one towards the proximal margin is also round, but has a diffuse dark brown ring. The forewing band of the female has a curved outer margin and a slightly more irregular inner margin; there are two prominent co-joined spots at the apex of the cell. The differences between nominate isthmia and the two new subspecies (wallengreni and daisye) are discussed under these new taxa and highlighted on Plate 3 .

The species occurs on the Pacific slope of both Ecuador and Colombia (nominate isthmia and i. wallengreni ssp. nov.), in the Cauca (nominate isthmia ? and i. wallengreni ssp. nov.) and Magdalena valleys (i. daisye ssp. nov.) in Colombia. It is absent from the Oriente of these two countries.

Figures

PLATE 3 (details). 1,2. Brassolis granadensis female, COLOMBIA: Otanche, JFL. 3. Brassolis granadensis male, COLOMBIA: Río Magdalena, BMNH. 4,5. Brassolis isthmia isthmia female, PANAMÁ: Taboga Island, BMNH. 6. Brassolis isthmia isthmia Lectotype male, PANAMÁ: Lion Hill, BMNH. 7,8. Brassolis isthmia daisye Paratype female, COLOMBIA: Chaparral, ICNO. 9. Brassolis isthmia daisye Paratype male, COLOMBIA: Mariquita, UPI. 10,11. Brassolis isthmia wallengreni Paratype female, ECUADOR: Tinalandia, CRB. 12. Brassolis isthmia wallengreni Paratype male, ECUADOR: Balzapamba (Paralectotype male of Brassolis granadensis), BMNH. 13. Brassolis haenschi haenschi male ECUADOR: Macas, ZMUC. 14. Brassolis haenschi haenschi male ECUADOR: Macas, ZMUC. 15. Brassolis haenschi haenschi male ECUADOR: Macas, ZMUC.