Dynastor darius (Fabricius)

Garzón-Orduña, Ivonne J. & Penz, Carla M., 2009, Phylogeny of Dynastor and Brassolis butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): a tough nut to crack, Zootaxa 2134, pp. 1-22 : 4

Dynastor darius (Fabricius)

( Fig. 1 E–F; 8C, E; 9A, B)

Diagnosis: Both sexes can be recognized by three characters: (1) dorsal FW postmedial band continuous from costal margin to cell M2, broken into dots at cells M3, Cu1 and Cu2; (2) dorsal HW postmedial band present, stronger above M1, faded and wavy below that vein; (3) ventral coloration cryptic, light brown mottled with dark brown.

Distribution: Central and South America, Costa Rica, Surinam, French Guiana, Brazil and Paraguay ( Casagrande 2004).

Subspecies: Casagrande (2004) listed five subspecies: nominal darius (type locality: Brazil, [Rio de Janeiro]), anaxarete (Cramer) ( Surinam), faenius Fruhstorfer ( Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul), ictericus Stichel ( Paraguay), and stygianus Butler ( Costa Rica). Examined males from Paraguay and Brazil (São Paulo) differ slightly in genitalic morphology but have nearly identical wing pattern, and work in progress will address this issue.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dynastor species in dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views. (A) Male D. napoleon from Santa Catarina (Brazil). (B) Female D, napoleon from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). (C & D) Male and female D. macrosiris from French Guiana and Mexico, respectively. (E & F) Male and female D. darius from São Paulo (Brazil).