Myrmica ritae

Andreas Schultz (pers. comm.) found a queen and workers of M. ritae in Thailand in a piece of wood (15 em diameter) on the ground, in dense old oak forest at an altitude of 1950 m. The forest was cool (annual mean temperature < 15°C) and quite humid, with very few epiphytes, but with abundant moss. This fits the idea that ritae-group are mainly forest ants which probably forage in low shrubs, perhaps even in the foliage of trees. Other genera collected in this area included Tetramorium, Crematogaster and Pachycondyla. We also found two workers of M. ritae in the collection in London, collected at virtually same place as the Schulz material (northern Thailand), in rotten wood in a mountain humid forest, at an altitude 1780 m. (Radchenko and Elmes 2010)

Identification
A member of the ritae complex of the ritae species group. M. ritae clearly differs from all other related species by the almost straight (not sinuous) longitudinal rugae and complete absence of reticulation on the head dorsum, and by its yellowish head, which distinctly contrasts with the brown alitrunk. (Radchenko and Elmes 2010)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand. Palaearctic Region: China.

Castes
Males are unknown.

Nomenclature

 *  ritae. Myrmica ritae Emery, 1889b: 501, pl. 11, fig. 27 (w.) MYANMAR. Radchenko & Elmes, 1999b: 95 (q.). See also: Bingham, 1903: 267; Radchenko & Elmes, 1998: 5; Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 226.

Etymology
Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - although he does not say so, Emery probably named this species for his wife Rita; we know her name because Forel (1899: 17), when he describe Leptogenys ritae (collected by Emery), wrote “Je dedie cette espe a Mme. Rita Emery. Se distinguee par sa forme svelte et grele”.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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 * Chen Y., C.-W. Luo, H. W Li, Z. H. Xu, Y. J. Liu, and S. J. Zhao. 2011. The investigation of soil ant resources on the West slope of Mt Ailao. Hubei Agricultural Sciences 50(7): 1356-1359.
 * Chen Z. L., S. Y. Zhou, and J. H. Huang. 2016. Seven species new to science and one newly recorded species of the ant genus Myrmica Latreille, 1804 from China, with proposal of a new synonym (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). ZooKeys 551: 85–128.
 * Collingwood C.A. 1970. Formicidae (Hymenopter: Aculeata) of Nepal. Himalaya Khumbu Himal, 3: 371-388.
 * Collingwood, C. A. "Formicidae (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) from Nepal. Khumbu Himal." Ergebnisse des Forschungsunternehmens Nepal Himalaya 3 (1970): 371-387.
 * Fontanilla A. M., A. Nakamura, Z. Xu, M. Cao, R. L. Kitching, Y. Tang, and C. J. Burwell. 2019. Taxonomic and functional ant diversity along tropical, subtropical, and subalpine elevational transects in southwest China. Insects 10, 128; doi:10.3390/insects10050128
 * Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
 * Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 2010. Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Old World. Fauna Mundi 3. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 790 pp.
 * Song Y., Z. Xu, C. Li, N. Zhang, L. Zhang, H. Jiang, and F. Mo. 2013. An Analysis on the Ant Fauna of the Nangun river Nature Reserve in Yunnan, China. Forest Research 26(6): 773-780.
 * Thapa V. K. 2000. An Inventory of Nepal's Insects, Vol. III. IUCN Nepal, Kathmandu, xi + 475 pp.
 * Tiwari R. N., B. G. Kundu, S. Roy Chowdhury, and S. N. Ghosh. 2003. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Fauna of Sikkim. Part 4. State Fauna Series. 9.Zool.Surv.India. i-iii, 1-512. Chapter pagination: 467-506.
 * Xu Z. H., J. G. Li, Q. Z. Fu, and Q. Z. Long. 2001. A Study on the Ant Communities on West Slope at Different Elevation of theGaoligongshan Mountain Nature Reserve in Yunnan, China. Zoological Research 22(1): 58-63.
 * Xu Z. 1998. A report of fourty-one ant species newly recorded in China from Xishuangbanna District of Yunnan Province (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zhongguo Xue Shu Qi Kan Wen Zhai 4: 1119-1121.