The goals of this study were to know the parasitoid guild associated to pupae of Methona themisto (Hübner, 1818), evaluate the relative abundance of each species of parasitoid and the effect of parasitism on the host mortality. A total of 160 pupae of M. themisto were collected, 80 in October 2001 and 80 in October 2002. They were maintained at 25 ± 2,0ºC and photophase of 14 hours, daily observed until parasitoid or butterfly emergence. Five parasitoid species were obtained from M. themisto pupae: Brachymeria annulata (Fabricius, 1793), B. mnestor (Walker, 1841) (Chalcididae), Neotheronia sp. (Ichneumonidae), Palmistichus elaeisis Delvare & LaSalle, 1993, and Tetrastichus sp. (Eulophidae). Only the genera Brachymeria and Neotheronia occurred in both years of the study, the former was more abundant in 2001 and the latter in 2002. The other species of parasitoids occurred only in the second year of the study. These are the first records of B. annulata, B. mnestor, Neotheronia sp. and P. elaeisis as parasitoids of M. themisto.
Ithomiinae; parasitism; parasitoid guild
