A number of predators eat these ants, including the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), numerous species of birds, blind snakes and spiders.

[9] I. detectus was described as a separate species by Smith the same year as I. purpureus from two syntype queens he collected from the Hunter River in New South Wales.

[9][13] Camponotus horni was described by English entomologist William Forsell Kirby in 1896 from worker and queen syntypes he collected at Palm Creek in the Northern Territory.

[9] One synonym, Iridomyrmex greensladei, was described as a separate species from the meat ant based on the anatomical differences of its head and pronotum (the dorsal portion of the prothorax's exoskeletal plates), which are the same colour as its mesosoma.

[21][22] Colouration varies from ants with a red head and thorax and a blue metallic sheen, to those with a yellowish body and a bluish-purple gaster.

[37] In general, meat ants are medium to large in size, measuring 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in), and can be easily recognised by their dark-bluish body and red head.

[3] On average, workers measure around 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in); this character distinguishes these ants from queens, as well as the different variety of colours they exhibit on their bodies.

The frontal carinae (a keel-shaped ridge or structure) are convex and the antennal scapes extend beyond the head's posterior margin by two or three times the diameter.

Erect setae are found all over the antennal scape and noticeably prominent on the clypeal margin (a shield-like plate at the front of an insect).

[2] Like the thorax, the abdomen is ovate and several abdominal segments appear rufo-piceous, making it reddish-brown or glossy brownish black.

[21][50] Those that are found at these altitudes are always associated with Eucalyptus rubida, and colonies situated in eastern New South Wales tend to nest near E. melliodora and E. blakelyi.

[21] Meat ants are well known for their large, oval-shaped nest-mounds (normally 1 or 2 metres (3.3 or 6.6 ft) in diameter) that are encountered in areas of occurrence, and obvious to identify.

[53] Some colonies are known to create "super-nests": workers construct many nests connected through established paths, extending up to 650 metres (2,130 ft) in length.

[20] In one extreme case, a single colony was found to occupy over 10 hectares (25 acres) of land with 85 individual nests and 1,500 entrance holes.

As a result, meat ants overwinter, which is a process where some organisms wait out the winter season due to cold conditions making everyday activity and survivability almost impossible; populations may be affected greatly.

Studies show that most meat ants are produced by a single, inseminated queen due to the high level of relatedness in all but one tested colonies.

They are also aggressive to conspecific ants from distant colonies, suggesting that environmental cues play a vital role in nestmate recognition.

[51] Other workers in smaller numbers will often scavenge around the nest area for dead insects, or other proteinaceous foods to bring back to their colony.

[86] Certain myrmicines, which are highly competitive, are capable of defending themselves from foraging workers; the rapid recruitment of nestmates and the use of chemicals for defence allows them to withstand attacks from meat ants.

[87] Like other Iridomyrmex species, the meat ant is an omnivore, retrieving food sources from various insects it tends, including caterpillars and various sorts of butterflies, particularly the larvae of the Waterhouse's hairstreak (Jalmenus lithochroa).

[98][99][100] Large and developed larvae of the cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae) are attacked more effectively by meat ant workers than those of other Iridomyrmex species.

[102] These ants will feed on a number of dead or alive animals, including metamorphic crucifix toads,[103] snakes, lizards, and birds.

Observations show that trails of workers in groups of two to four were found collecting the guano under an active bat roost within an abandoned mine and proceeded to return it to the nest.

[109] Attacking echidnas burrow down into the hole they have made and consume them while handling the bites from the ants, as they frequently scratch themselves on the head and chest.

[116] Some large ground-feeding birds, such as currawongs, magpies and ravens dig out newly established colonies after a queen has found a suitable spot to nest.

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.

[137] Common jassid (Eurymela fenestrata) nymphs excrete a sugary sap that is collected by the ants, which protect this valuable food resource.

[34] Due to the meat ants' aggression, workers will pour out of entrance holes to attack if a human or animal disturbs their nest.

[52][59] They pose a serious problem for citrus growers in eastern Australia, because they affect the biological control of Hemiptera insects, specifically those who produce honeydew.

The first investigations were made in the 1930s to control meat ant populations in urban areas by fumigation, using carbon disulfide and calcium cyanide.