Brassolis dinizi d’Almeida, 1956,

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 : 6

Brassolis dinizi d’Almeida, 1956 , NEW STATUS

( Fig. 2 I–J, 7A, 9E)

Diagnosis: Recognized by a combination of seven characters: (1) small size (male FW length 53.3 – 62.5 mm); (2) in both sexes, dorsal background coloration ashen brown; (3) in both sexes, ventral surface of both wings markedly pale and contrasting a diffuse dark area proximal to the FW postmedial band, below the discal cell; (4) in males, dorsal FW postmedial band completely white above Cu1, with a pale orange tinge posteriorly, usually below Cu1 ( Fig. 7 A, character 12:0); (5) in females, dorsal FW postmedial band nearly bifurcated into two branches at the distal edge of the discal cell ( Fig. 2 J); (6) in both sexes, dorsal HW postmedial band pale orange and well defined; (7) in both sexes, abdomen faded orange dorsally.

Distribution: Northeastern Brazil (d’Almeida 1956).

Justification for new status: It is likely that d’Almeida (1956) considered dinizi a subspecies of B. sophorae because it has a well-defined HW postmedial band. However, when compared to B. sophorae from several localities across its range (Appendix 1, Fig. 2 ), B. dinizi shows a distinctively pale dorsal and ventral coloration, nearly completely white male FW postmedial band, and smaller wing-length. In combination, characters listed above provide a positive and reliable diagnosis for dinizi . Furthermore, the tree in Fig. 4 A shows four character changes for this species; a number comparable to haenschi , and larger than what was found for other Brassolis . While dinizi can be clearly distinguished from sophorae , other Brassolis species are more difficult to separate (e.g., isthmia and granadensis ). Therefore, based on the diagnostic characters listed here, we propose a change in the taxonomic status of dinizi from subspecies to species.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Brassolis species in dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views. (A & B) Male and female B. sophorae from French Guiana. (C & D) Female and male B. sophorae from Ecuador. (E & F) Male and female B. haenschi from Ecuador. (G) Male B. sophorae from Trinidad. (H) Male B. sophorae from Peru. (I & J) Male and female B. dinizi from Paraiba and Ceará respectively (Brazil). (K) Male B. sophorae from Santa Catarina (Brazil). (L) Male B. sophorae from Paraguay.

FIGURE 4. (A) Strict consensus tree from the analysis of 57 characters with K = 3. (B & C) Two of the most parsimonious trees, the third tree had the same topology of the strict consensus. Relative Bremer support (on the left) and Jackknife values (on the right) are on the left hand of the branches.

FIGURE 7. Wing characters. (A) Brassolis dizini. (B) B. astyra. (C) B. haenschi. (D) Dynastor darius.