Iridomyrmex purpureus
Meat Ant at Wamboin, NSW
Identify this sighting
| Iridomyrmex purpureus | JonLewis | 15 Apr 2020 | |
| Iridomyrmex purpureus | JonLewis | 15 Apr 2020 | |
| Iridomyrmex sp. (genus) | JonLewis | 15 Apr 2020 | |
| Iridomyrmex sp. (genus) | natureguy | 14 Apr 2020 |
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User's notes
I believe this is a queen ant. I'm guessing Meat Ant (I. purpureus), as there were several in different locations associating with Meat Ants and also most of the local Meat Ant nests had winged individuals flying away.
2 comments
15 Apr 2020
Hi Natureguy, I think you have made a good ID. Queens are sometimes hard to relate back to the workers we normally see, but there is a good image of an I. purpureus queen that has lost its wings available on AntWiki (https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Iridomyrmex_purpureus) and the match looks good enough for me, especially in combination with your field observations. Cheers, Jon
15 Apr 2020
Thanks Jon. Meat Ants are very common here. We have at least 10 nests on the property and they are also constantly digging in our pavement (a bit of a problem).
Location information
- Coordinates 149.274310-35.254880
- Places Wamboin, NSW
Sighting information
- 4 - 15 Abundance
- 21 Jan 2020 10:20 AM Recorded on
- natureguy Recorded by
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
- Female Gender
- Burrow Breeding behaviour
Collections
- natureguy Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Iridomyrmex purpureus Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Insects
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
- External link More information
-
Synonyms
Iridomyrmex purpurea
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location