Meat ant some are inquilines and live in the nest commensally. Unused or abandoned areas inside colonies are sometimes occupied by other species of ants and in some cases, termites. Meat ants may deliberately destroy the colonies of the termite "Amitermes laurensis" if competition between the two intensify. Meat ants play an important role in seed dispersal. A meat ant colony is capable of dispersing 334,000 individual bellyache bush seeds per hectare, which shows a strong ant-seed relationship among the two. Meat ants are able to kill poisonous cane toads, an introduced pest, as the toxins exuded by toad, that usually kill
Meat ant Meat ant The meat ant ("Iridomyrmex purpureus"), also known as the gravel ant or southern meat ant, is a species of ant endemic to Australia. A member of the genus "Iridomyrmex" in the subfamily Dolichoderinae, it was described by British entomologist Frederick Smith in 1858. The meat ant is associated with many common names due to its appearance, nest-building behaviour and abundance, of which its specific name, "purpureus", refers to its coloured appearance. It is among the best-known species of ant found throughout Australia; it occurs in almost all states and territories except for Tasmania. Its enormous distribution, aggression and