Facts
- The Iridomyrmex purpureus can make develop nests with over 64,000 workers! (Holldobler and Carlin 1985).
- Nests are connected through many other colonies to form super colonies. These colonies can stretch over 2,000 feet! (Australian Museum 2010).
- Meat Ants develop mutualistic relationships with certain types of butterfly caterpillars. In which the ant protects the caterpillar in exchange for food secreted by the caterpillar (Harris and Berry 2013).
- Meat Ants are immune to toxins produced by Cane Toads which are an invasive species to their natural environment. This is a possible natural mechanism to the removal of the invasive species (Ward-Fear et al. 2009).
- Mature workers participate in c0mabts along colony borders to solve territorial disputes and create new nest boundaries (Harris and Berry 2013).
- Farmers in Australia will periodically place carcasses of animals on a nest of the I. purpureus to reduce the carcass to bone within weeks (Australian Museum 2010).
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