Hirtella physophora is a species of plant in the family Chrysobalanaceae. It is a tree native to northern tropical South America, including northern Brazil, Colombia, the Guianas, Peru, and Venezuela, where it grows in lowland tropical rain forest. It forms an association with the ant species, Allomerus decemarticulatus. The ants live in honeycombed cylinders they attach to the plant's stems. The plant nearly always has these ants associated with it.The effect of habitat fragmentation on communities of mutualists: Amazonian ants and their host plants Emilio M. Bruna, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos and Sylvia Heredia Biological Conservation Volume 124, Issue 2, July 2005, Pages 209-216
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