Formica purpurea

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 40

135. FORMICA PURPUREA . B.M.

Worker. Length 4 lines.-Head, antennae, thorax and legs, bright red with a faint purple or blue tint; sometimes with the thorax posteriorly and the legs dusky, the purple tint being more vivid; abdomen bright violet, with sometimes a coppery tinge. In form resembling F. rufa , but with the head more narrowed anteriorly; the eyes smaller and placed more forward on the head; the antennae rather longer and more slender; the thorax with a deep strangulation between the meso- and metathorax; the scale of the peduncle small, narrow, with its upper margin rounded and blunt. Abdomen ovate; the legs thinly covered with short pubescence.

Hab. Melbourne.