What species is this ant, and is it a queen?

[Platail]

Hello everyone,

I was in my backyard today, and saw a lot of ant species I am familiar with, but this one caught my eye in particular as I have no idea what species it is, or if it is a queen, would anyone here know?

My brother and I thought it may be a Technomyrmex difficilis as there is a large nest in the honeysuckle vine out the back across the yard from where we found it...but unless it's a queen (which would be great), it couldn't be as it is twice as big as the workers we see.

Size - 8mm to 1cm
Location - South East Queensland, Australia (Brisbane)
Found - In a dusty dirt patch near rocks.
Time - Midday, Mid Spring.
http://imgur.com/m5WtasT
http://imgur.com/l2ided2
http://imgur.com/TogFmz7
http://imgur.com/hnFfoAf

Thanks everyone

[Batspiderfish]

Unlike the other recent Australian queens, this one looks to be from the Dolichoderinae subfamily. I'll look at it later.

[Platail]

Thanks for the reply.

I've been doing some more research and I'm thinking it may be an iridomyrmex queen?

I'm definitely not positive, but I do believe they are found in my area.

[Batspiderfish]

I am leaning towards Iridomyrmex sp. myself. Do you know that the measurement is accurate?

[Platail]

She was moving quite a bit, but on the second try she is probably closer to a full 1 cm when stretched out. Though definitely not as long as the reported length of Iridomyrmex according to what I've read (11-12mm), unless you include her antenna.

[Batspiderfish]

Iridomyrmex is a diverse genus.

[Platail]

Yeah, there's a few different looking ones around my area, most seem to be larger.

That said, I visited my state museum this afternoon, and found a few close matching Iridomyrmex (can't remember exactly which sorry) specimens, though they have said they will ID her for me (with just pictures thankfully ) . So I'll find out some time in the next week or two, exactly which species she is!

[Platail]

Just remembered!
The most similar specimen they had was a queen iridomyrmex purpureus, the area in which I found her also matches the general habitat in which they are found. So for the time being, this would be my best bet.

[Batspiderfish]

Don't give it a species name unless you can match specific characteristics to it from a description or key.