Myrmica pachei

Forel (1906) noted that type specimens were collected from a colony in a tree trunk. All we know about the other material is that it was collected in mountains at altitudes between 2600 and 3600 m.

Identification
M. pachei belongs to the pachei species group, a key feature of which is the transversal rugulosity present on the alitrunk dorsum. Until recently we considered this unusual feature for Myrmica species to be present in only a couple of other species from the Himalaya (Myrmica inezae and Myrmica villosa). M. pachei differs from M. villosa by having much shorter, straighter and sparser hairs on the body, by darker colour and by much more dense sculpture on the alitrunk. It clearly differs from M. inezae therefore we place M. pachei and M. villosa together in the pachei-group. (Radchenko and Elmes 2010)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India, Nepal.

Nomenclature

 *  pachei. Myrmica pachei Forel, 1906b: 79 (w.q.m.) NEPAL. See also: Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 211.

Etymology
Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - M. pachei: dedicated to the collector, the Swiss climber Alexis Pache who was killed in an avalanche in July 1905 while attempting to climb Kangchenjunga (the World's third highest mountain). The expedition was led by the controversial occultist and black magician Aleister Crowley and the Swiss doctor Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. Forel had given Pache tubes to collect high altitude ants, eventually Pache's brother-in-law returned two tubes found in his belongings, one of which contained the three castes of this species.