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.