Formica fusca

Identification
Black, legs brownish. Gula, occiput, mid femora and promesonotum without standing hairs - occasionally one or two weak pronotal hairs. Pubescent hairs on gaster longer than their interspace width. Frons with fine microsculpture. Length: 4.5-7.0 mm.

Distribution
Holarctic.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: Alberta, Canada, Canada, United States. Neotropical Region: Mexico. Oriental Region: India, Nepal. Palaearctic Region: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, China, Croatia, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iberian Peninsula, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Europe
This is the common black ant of Europe. It nests variously in banks, under stones and in tree stumps along hedgerows and woodland borders. Workers are timid, fast moving and forage singly, predating small insects but also feeding on extra floral nectaries and on aphid honeydew. Colonies are usually small with up to 500 workers and one or a few queens present. Alatae are developed in June and July and fly off the nests in July and early August (Collingwood 1979).

Nomenclature

 *  fusca. Formica fusca Linnaeus, 1758: 580 (w.) EUROPE. Latreille, 1802c: 159 (q.m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1953c: 164 (l.). Combination in F. (Serviformica): Forel, 1913i: 361. Senior synonym of barbata: Emery & Forel, 1879: 451; of flavipes, libera: Latreille, 1802c: 159; Smith, F. 1851: 3; Roger, 1863b: 13; of marcida: Francoeur, 1973: 189; of pallipes, rufipes: Dlussky, 1967a: 58; of tristis: Emery, 1892b: 162; of glebaria: Mayr, 1855: 346; Yarrow, 1954a: 230; Dlussky, 1967a: 58; Radchenko, 2007: 35. Current subspecies: nominal plus alpicola, fuscolemani, hyrcana, maura, tombeuri. See also: Emery, 1893i: 657; Wheeler, W.M. 1913f: 494; Donisthorpe, 1915d: 304; Stitz, 1939: 348; Dlussky, 1967a: 58; Dlussky & Pisarski, 1971: 148; Francoeur, 1973: 189; Tarbinsky, 1976: 180; Collingwood, 1979: 120; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 183; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 260; Seppä, et al. 2011: 31.
 * libera. Formica libera Scopoli, 1763: 313 (w.) AUSTRIA. Junior synonym of fusca: Latreille, 1802a: 159.
 * flavipes. Formica flavipes Geoffroy, in Fourcroy, 1785: 452 (m.) FRANCE. Junior synonym of fusca: Latreille, 1802c: 161.
 * barbata. Formica barbata Razoumowski, 1789: 225, fig. 12 (w.) SWITZERLAND. Junior synonym of fusca: Emery & Forel, 1879: 451.
 * tristis. Formica tristis Christ, 1791: 513, pl. 60, fig. 13 (m.) no locality given. Junior synonym of fusca: Emery, 1892b: 162.
 * glebaria. Formica glebaria Nylander, 1846a: 917, pl. 18, fig. 23 (w.q.) FINLAND. Foerster, 1850a: 31 (m.). Combination in F. (Serviformica): Forel, 1915d: 63. Subspecies of fusca: Emery & Forel, 1879: 451; Wheeler, W.M. 1908g: 408; Emery, 1909b: 196; Ruzsky, 1914b: 104; Forel, 1915d: 63; Emery, 1916b: 254; Santschi, 1925g: 353; Karavaiev, 1927c: 286; Stitz, 1939: 353; Novak & Sadil, 1941: 108; of rufibarbis: Karavaiev, 1936: 237. Status as species: Bondroit, 1918: 49; Müller, 1923: 139; Boven, 1947: 188. Junior synonym of cunicularia: Bernard, 1967: 296; Boven, 1977: 164; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 59; of fusca: Mayr, 1855: 346; Yarrow, 1954a: 230; Dlussky, 1967a: 58; Radchenko, 2007: 35.
 * marcida. Formica fusca var. marcida Wheeler, W.M., 1913f: 398 (in key) (w.q.) CANADA. [Formica fusca subsp. fusca var. marcida Wheeler, W.M., 1913f: 503; unavailable name.] Subspecies of fusca: Wheeler, W.M., 1917a: 546. Raised to species: Creighton, 1950a: 534. Junior synonym of fusca: Francoeur, 1973: 189.
 * pallipes. Formica fusca var. pallipes Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1926b: 97 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. [Unresolved junior primary homonym of pallipes Latreille, above.] Junior synonym of fusca: Dlussky, 1967a: 58; Tarbinsky, 1976: 180.
 * rufipes. Formica fusca var. rufipes Stitz, 1930: 238 (w.q.) RUSSIA. [Unresolved junior primary homonym of rufipes Fabricius, 1775: 391, above.] Junior synonym of fusca: Dlussky, 1967a: 58.