Iridomyrmex purpureus

Meat Ant at Molonglo Valley, ACT

Iridomyrmex purpureus at Molonglo Valley, ACT - 21 Oct 2021 09:17 AM
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Identification history

Iridomyrmex purpureus 21 Oct 2021 JonLewis
Iridomyrmex purpureus 21 Oct 2021 Roger

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User's notes

There seemed to be lots of interaction bewteen the ants, this happened at two different loctions.

2 comments

JonLewis wrote:
   21 Oct 2021
Terrific photo Roger. This is almost certainly an unfriendly interaction between ants from two different nests. The way they are standing up high on their legs and posturing is very typical of the "ritualised fighting" that this species does. For more information take a look at the Meat Ant entry in Wikipedia which has some detail on this. Cheers, Jon
Roger wrote:
   21 Oct 2021
Thank you Jon, will do.

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Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • 25mm to 50mm 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
  • 651 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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