Portals

This tachi cauaçu tree (Tripolaris sp.) has certainly grown larger over the last few years, but what surprised me were the entrance ways for the tachi ants. They used to be not much more than small holes the size of matchsticks and there were lots of them on the trunk of the tree. Now I see these rather elaborate doorways, which may be scar tissue formed by the tree in reaction to the coming and goings of the ants. I need to have a better look at these portals to see how many openings there might be. Could it be that these are sealed off? I honestly didn't pay much attention at the time I took the picture. After transferring it to my computer, I noticed the beauty of the doorways. I'll be back to report more details on this one.