1 Meat Ant at Molonglo Valley, ACT
Identification history
| Iridomyrmex purpureus | 17 Jan 2022 | JonLewis | ||
| Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus | 10 Jan 2022 | CathB |
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1 comment
JonLewis
wrote:
17 Jan 2022
HI Cath, not the correct ID, but you are quite right that they look a lot like Leptomyrmex, with the reddish head and long-looking legs. Iridomyrmex purpureus don't normally look quite like this, but you have seen individuals from two different nests in the middle of a dispute over territory or a food source, and they make these very characteristic body poses, trying to look as big as possible. There is good information on this included in the Wikipedia page for these ants, quite a long way down the page under the heading "Ritualised Fighting", where you will see a photo just like yours! Cheers, Jon
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Nearby sightings
Location information
- Coordinates 149.084146-35.271352
- Maps Aranda Bushland
- Places Molonglo Valley, ACT
Sighting information
- 16 - 100 Abundance
- 5 Jan 2022 07:47 AM Recorded on
- CathB Recorded by
Additional information
- 5mm to 12mm Animal size
Species information
- Iridomyrmex purpureus Scientific name
- Meat Ant Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-Invasive
- Up to 963.87m Recorded at altitude
- 484 images trained Machine learning
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Confirmed by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
