Myrmica pachei

This species was found nesting under stones in wet soil, with ground covered with grass, low vegetation and scattered Pinus trees. The maximum altitude at which specimens were collected was 3180m (Jaswantgarh in Arunachal Pradesh), where temperature ranged from 15°C to 24.2°C and humidity 65-85%. The colonies were small with up to 30 workers. Alates were collected during the month of June and first week of October (Bharti et al., 2016). Forel (1906) noted that type specimens were collected from a colony in a tree trunk.

Identification
A member of the pachei 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.

Type Material

 * Lectotype (designated by Radchenko & Elmes, 2001): worker, “NE Nepal, Tseram, 3600 m, Pache” (NHMG).
 * Paralectotypes (designated by Radchenko & Elmes, 2001): 2 workers (NHMG) and l worker “NE Nepal, Tseram, 3600 m, Pache” (MCZ); 1 worker, 1 male, “Myrmica Pachei n. Nepal, Himalaya 3600 m” (MSNG).

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.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bharti H., S. Sasi, and A. Radchenko. 2016. Biogeography and ecology of Myrmica species (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in Himalayan regions. Sociobiology 63(3): 956-975.
 * Bharti H., Y. P. Sharma, M. Bharti, and M. Pfeiffer. 2013. Ant species richness, endemicity and functional groups, along an elevational gradient in the Himalayas. Asian Myrmecology 5: 79-101.
 * Collingwood C.A. 1970. Formicidae (Hymenopter: Aculeata) of Nepal. Himalaya Khumbu Himal, 3: 371-388.
 * Forel A. 1906. Les fourmis de l'Himalaya. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 42: 79-94.
 * Mo F., Z. Xu, Y. Song, C. Li, and Q. He. 2015. Ant communities in Yadong section of Mt. Himalaya. Journal of Nanjing Forestry University 39(3): 85-90.
 * Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 2001. A taxonomic revision of the ant genus Myrmica Latreille, 1804 from the Himalaya (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Entomologica Basiliensia 23: 237-276.
 * 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.
 * Radchenko A. G.; and G. W. Elmes. 2009. Taxonomic revision of the pachei species-group of the genus Myrmica Latreille (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 59: 67-92.
 * Radchenko, A. G., and G. W. Elmes. "A taxonomic revision of the ant genus Myrmica Latreille, 1804 from the Himalaya (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Entomologica Basiliensia 23 (2001): 237-276.
 * Weber N. A. 1947. A revision of the North American ants of the genus Myrmica Latreille with a synopsis of the Palearctic species. I. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 40: 437-474.