The stellar populations of dE galaxies in nearby groups

In this contribution initial results from colour-magnitude diagrams for five dEs in the M81 group are presented. The colour-magnitude diagrams, derived from HST/ACS images, reach well below the red giant branch tip and allow evaluation of distances and mean metallicities. Further, the intermediate-age upper-AGB stars seen in the diagrams allow estimates of the epochs of the last significant episodes of the star formation in the dEs. These epochs, and the relative numbers of upper-AGB to red giant branch stars, vary significantly from dE to dE. Preliminary inferences from similar HST/ACS data for five early-type dwarfs in the Sculptor group are also discussed.