SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF NESTS OF CORNITERMES CUMULANS (ISOPTERA: TERMITIDAE) IN A PASTURE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF RIO CLARO (SP) , BRAZIL

Resumo

The nests of Cornitermes cumulans were detected as randomly distributed in a pasture in the municipality of Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil. The mean distance between each nest and its closest neighboring nest influenced their mean volume at the level (mean volume = 27.002 + 4.508 nearest neighbor distance; r= 0.155**, n = 61). Although the distribution pattern of the nests of Cornitermes cumulans was random, competition may be one of the limiting factors for the growth of the colonies which could support the hypothesis that this pattern is tending toward an aggregation, or is, at a larger scale, an aggregating pattern.