Brachymeria pandora (Crawford) (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae): a new parasitoid of Historis odius (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

SCIENTIFIC COMUNICATION

Brachymeria pandora (Crawford) (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae): a new parasitoid of Historis odius (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

Brachymeria pandora (Crawford) (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae): um novo parasitóide de Historis odius (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)

Hélcio R. Gil-Santana^I; Marcelo T. Tavares^II

^ILaboratório de Diptera, Departamento de Entomologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Avenida Brasil 4365, Manguinhos, 21045-900 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. E-mail: [e-mail]

^IIDepartamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo. Avenida Marechal Campos 1468, 29040-090 Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brasil. E-mail: [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

The first record of parasitism of Brachymeria pandora (Crawford, 1914) (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae) on Historis odius (Fabricius, 1775) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is presented.

Key words: Cabo Frio, parasitoid.

RESUMO

Apresenta-se o primeiro registro de parasitismo de Brachymeria pandora (Crawford, 1914) (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae) em Historis odius (Fabricius, 1775) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae), no estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

Palavras chave: Cabo Frio, parasitóide.

Historis odius (Fabricius, 1775) is a well-known butterfly species that ranges widely over Latin America, including the Caribbean Islands and even isolated Coco Island, where it is the only resident butterfly (HOGUE 1993). The species can be found throughout the Region from Southern United States to Argentina and West Indies (D' ABRERA 1984).

The larvae of H. odius feed on the leaves of Cecropia spp. (Urticales, Moraceae) (HOGUE 1993). The chrysalid has fine, fork-tipped, dorsal abdominal spines and curved head horns (HOGUE 1993) (Fig. 1).

Brachymeria pandora (CRAWFORD , 1914) (Fig. 2) was already found in Guiana (Crawford 1914) as a parasitoid of larva of an undetermined species Hesperiidae and Venezuela (TERAN 1980) as parasitoid of pupa Calpodes ethlius (Stoll, 1780) (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae).

Some pupae of Historis odius were collected by the first author at Cabo Frio (22º51'S, 42º03'W), State of Rio de Janeiro. From two of them, found in 29.V.2000 and XI.2004, emerged 12 and 7 specimens of B. pandora (Fig. 2), respectively. Close species of B. pandora, e. g., B. mnestor (Walker, 1841) and B. annulata (Fabricius, 1793) are also gregarious parasitoids of pupae of some families of Lepidoptera, as Noctuidae, Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae and Pyralidae (NOYES 2002).

The lepidopteran species was identified based on D' ABRERA (1984, 1987), BROWN (1992) and HOGUE (1993) and are deposited at "Coleção Entomológica do Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro" (MNRJ). The chalcidid voucher specimens are deposited at "Coleção Entomológica do Departamento de Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo" (UFES).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The first author thanks to the Entomologists Eurides Furtado and Nirton Tangerini for informations about Historis odius.

Received in 26.IV.2005; accepted in 29.IX.2005.

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• CRAWFORD, J.C. 1914. New parasitic Hymenoptera from British Guiana. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, Washington, 16 (2): 85-88.
• D'ABRERA, B. 1984. Butterflies of South America. Victoria, Hill House, 256p.
• D'ABRERA, B. 1987.Butterflies of the Neotropical Region. Part III Brassolidae, Acraeidae, Nymphalidae (partim). Victoria, Hill House, 140p.
• HOGUE, C.L. 1993. Latin American insects and entomology. Los Angeles, University of California Press, 536p.
• NOYES, J.S. 2002. Interactive catalogue of world Chalcidoidea, 2001. Vancouver, Taxapad, CD-ROM.
• TERAN, B.J. 1980. Lista preliminar de Hymenoptera parasitos de otros insectos em Venezuela. Revista Facultad de Agronomia, Maracay, 11 (1-4): 283-389.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  09 Mar 2006
• Date of issue
  Dec 2005

History

• Received
  26 Apr 2005
• Accepted
  29 Sept 2005