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I wanted to add earlier, but didn't, that this is another case of SLOPPY WRITING. If the spot was on the Equator, then it was TROPICAL, not SUBTROPICAL. And, no, Brazil does not have a SUBTROPICAL climate."
Equatorial proximity does not necessarily eliminate subtropical conditions or vegetation. Think altitude. And Brazil has a subtropical region, along with equatorial, tropical, semiarid, and highland tropical.
The tropics exist between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricon. The Equator is totally within the Tropics.
There are climatic types that are named after these zones.