Iridomyrmex purpureus

Meat Ant at Aranda, ACT

Request use of media

Identification history

Iridomyrmex purpureus 22 Feb 2026 JonLewis
Iridomyrmex purpureus 21 Feb 2026 KMcCue

Identify this sighting


Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

User's notes

They were intent on building a volcano type structure - are they that sure it will rain? Is this usual behaviour.

1 comment

JonLewis wrote:
   22 Feb 2026
Hi KMcCue, there were certainly plenty of busy ants yesterday - I think they must read the weather forecast. Most meat ant nests aren’t raised up around the nest entrances like your photo, but you sometimes see them like this. I think it may have more to do with the soil that the particular nest is in than rain preparation. Cheers, Jon

Please Login or Register to comment.

Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • 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
  • External link More information
  • Synonyms

    Iridomyrmex purpurea

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
834,211 sightings of 23,616 species from 15,454 members
NatureMapr is developed by at3am | Made and hosted in Australia | privacy | CCA 3.0