none Evergestis rimosalis; FOOD-PLANTS; Brassica; LIFE-CYCLE-AND-DEVELOPMENT; Phenology, crops; HYMENOPTERAN-PARASITES; Cotesia orobenae; Host/parasite phenology correlates & hyperparasitism; HYPERPARASITISM-; Hymenopteran hyperparasitoids of Cotesia (Hymenoptera) parasite; POPULATION-DYNAMICS; Phenological relationships; Hymenopteran parasite/hyperparasite correlates, crop fields; CULTIVATED-LAND-HABITAT; Brassica crops; Hymenopteran parasite & hyperparasite correlations; VIRGINIA-; Montgomery County, Whitethorne; Phenological analysis, hymenopteran parasite/hyperparasite correlations CHALCIDIDAE-; ICHNEUMONIDAE-; PTEROMALIDAE-; HYMENOPTERAN-HOSTS; Cotesia orobenae; Hyperparasite prevalence, lepidopteran host phenology relations, Virginia Cotesia orobenae; LIFE-CYCLE-AND-DEVELOPMENT; HYMENOPTERAN-PARASITES; Chalcididae, Ichneumonidae & Pteromalidae; Hyperparasite prevalence, lepidopteran host phenology relations; LEPIDOPTERAN-HOSTS; Evergestis rimosalis; Host/parasite phenology correlates & hyperparasitism; HYPERPARASITISM-; Hymenopteran hyperparasite prevalence; Lepidopteran host phenological correlates; SURVIVAL-; Life stage relationships, crop fields; Lepidopteran host/hymenopteran hyperparasite interrelationships; CULTIVATED-LAND-HABITAT; Brassica crops, phenological analysis; Lepidopteran host & hymenopteran hyperparasite interrelations; VIRGINIA-; Montgomery County, Whitethorne; Phenology, lepidopteran host/hymenopteran hyperparasite correlates, crops Cotesia orobenae Forbes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a gregarious endoparasitoid of the cross-striped cabbageworm (Evergestis rimosalis Guenee) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), a minor pest of Brassica crops in Virginia. Cocoons of C. orobenae were collected, weekly, from field plots of broccoli and cabbage crops in Whitethorne, Montgomery County (VA) during 1989 and 1990. Counts were also made of the eggs and larvae of E. rimosalis to determine the pest's seasonality. In January 1991, C. orobenae cocoons were collected from the field plots to see if C. orobenae overwinters within cocoons. In May 1993, trap plants bearing E. rimosalis larvae were placed among the field plants weekly to determine if C. orobenae adults are present and ovipositing early in the season. Field counts of E. rimosalis eggs and larvae in 1990 indicated the occurrence of three generations of E. rimosalis from June to October, but parasitism of larvae on trap plants by C. orobenae in May 1993 suggested that the parasitoid is present in mid-May. C. orobenae oviposits in first through third instar E. rimosalis and the resulting larvae feed internally on the developing host, exit the fourth (last) instar host, and spin cocoons in a loose mass. Mean brood size of 118 C. orobenae field-collected cocoon masses was 9.2 +- 4.4 cocoons per mass. Out of 1085 cocoons, adult C. orobenae emerged from 77%, hyperparasitoids emerged from 7%, and nothing emerged from 16%. Females accounted for 73% of the emerging C. orobenae adults. Data from field-collected cocoons suggest that C. orobenae enter diapause in late September and overwinter in cocoons. Six pupal hyperparasitoids were recovered: Isdromas lycaenae (Howard) (Ichneumonidae); Conura (=Spilochalcis) torvina (Cresson) and Conura (=Spilochalcis) albifrons (Walsh) (Chalcididae); Hypopteromalus tabacum (Fitch), Catolaccus cyanoideus Burks, and Trichomalopsis viridescens (Walsh) (Pteromalidae).