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: 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”.