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Related plant species with different spatial and/or temporal life‐history characteristics often possess differences in secondary chemistry and thus direct defensive capability. These differences are often attributed to a range of divergent selection pressures from herbivores and pathogens. Most studies of insect–plant interactions have examined the effects of plant defence on herbivore performance, with less attention being paid to higher trophic levels, such as parasitoid wasps. Moreover, to date it is not known whether secondary plant compounds may affect organisms in the fourth trophic level.

Here, we study interactions in a four‐trophic‐level system. The development of a solitary secondary hyperparasitoid, Lysibia nana, and its primary endoparasitoid host, Cotesia glomerata, are compared when reared from a primary herbivore host, Pieris brassicae, which was itself reared on two cruciferous plants with …