Insects
Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
Sighting 3391286

Iridomyrmex purpureus

Meat Ant at Hughes, ACT

Iridomyrmex purpureus at Hughes, ACT - 13 Feb 2018 08:38 AM
Iridomyrmex purpureus at Hughes, ACT - 13 Feb 2018 08:38 AM
Iridomyrmex purpureus at Hughes, ACT - 13 Feb 2018 08:38 AM
Iridomyrmex purpureus at Hughes, ACT - 13 Feb 2018 08:38 AM
Iridomyrmex purpureus at Hughes, ACT - 13 Feb 2018 08:38 AM
Iridomyrmex purpureus at Hughes, ACT - 13 Feb 2018 08:38 AM
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Identification history

Iridomyrmex purpureus 20 Feb 2018 MichaelMulvaney
Unverified 13 Feb 2018 JackyF

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User's notes

Handsome anthill about 80cm high, smooth on top, no gravel. Medium size ants, sorry I could not get a better close-up.

6 comments

KimPullen wrote:
   20 Feb 2018
The ants are meat ants (Iridomyrmex purpureus), but they are not responsible for the mound, which was made by termites.
JackyF wrote:
   22 Feb 2018
Kim - Thanks very much. Can you tell if termites are still living in the mound? Do you know what the ants are doing on it? We have been puzzling about it. Cheers, Jacky
KimPullen wrote:
   23 Feb 2018
Jacky - I can't say what the ants would be doing on the mound, I can't see how there would normally be any food on the surface of it. The mound does look quite sound (except for the hole at the lower left), which suggests it's occupied by termites. You could make a hole in the side of it to expose the galleries - if termites are home they will rush there (from inside) to defend and repair it. But the meat ants will also attack them. Regards, Kim.
JackyF wrote:
   25 Feb 2018
Thanks so much.
DonFletcher wrote:
   12 Aug 2019
There seems to be constant war between termites on one side and meat ants and sugar ants on the other. The ants commonly take over the termite mounds but I have seen one mound revert to termites. Both locally common mound building termite species seem affected.
JackyF wrote:
   12 Aug 2019
Thank you!

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Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • near gum saplings Associated plant
  • 5mm to 12mm Animal size

Species information

  • Iridomyrmex purpureus Scientific name
  • Meat Ant Common name
  • Not Sensitive
  • Local native
  • Non-invasive or negligible
  • Up to 963.87m Recorded at altitude
  • 700 images trained Machine learning
  • External link More information

Record quality

  • Images or audio
  • More than one media file
  • Verified by an expert moderator
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
  • GPS evidence of location
  • Description
  • Additional attributes
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