Formica fusca

In New Mexico (Mackay and Mackay 2002) this ant nests in soil or under stones and in logs (primarily very rotten and soft). They occasionally have an earthen mound. Brood was found in nests from May to August, reproductives were found in nests from July to September, dealate females were found in August and September. This species nests together with Myrmica lobifrons and with Monomorium minimum and Monomorium cyaneum.

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.

Mackay and Mackay (2002) - Metasternal lobe is absent or very poorly developed and usually has erect hairs around the metasternal cavity. It is concolorous black with abundant appressed pilosity. The underside of the head has no erect hairs, and the first tergite of the gaster (excluding the posterior edge) has only about 4 course, erect hairs.

Distribution
Holarctic.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: Canada, United States. Neotropical Region: Mexico. Oriental Region: India, Nepal. Palaearctic Region: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, China, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Isle of Man, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.



Habitat
In New Mexico (Mackay and Mackay 2002) - Widely distributed in mesic habitats, including forests and open areas, ponderosa pine-riparian, pinyon juniper, aspen forests, Douglas fir forests, absent only in semiarid and arid habitats and above timberline.

Foraging/Diet
Formica fusca collect honeydew. Novgorodova (2015b) investigated ant-aphid interactions of a dozen honeydew collecting ant species in Western Siberia pine and aspen-birch-pine forests (54°7´N, 83°06´E, 200 m, Novosibirsk) and mixed-grass-cereal steppes with aspen-birch groves (53°44´N, 78°02´E, 110 m, near Karasuk) in the Novosibirsk Region and coniferous forests in the northeastern Altai (north end of Lake Teletskoe, 51°48´N, 87°17´E, 434 m). All of the ants studied had workers that showed high fidelity to attending particular aphid colonies, i.e, individual foragers that collect honeydew tend to return to the same location, and group of aphids, every time they leave the nest. F. fusca showed no specialization beyond this foraging site fidelity. F. fusca tended Symydobius oblongus (Heyden), Chaitophorus populeti (Panzer) and Aphis craccivora Koch.

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).

Other Insects
This ant has been associated with the butterfly Glaucopsyche alexis (Obregon et al. 2015).

Castes
Queens of different fecundity levels differed in their Cuticular Hydrocarbons profiles. This was associated with worker behaviour; the higher a queen’s fecundity, the more attention she received from workers (Hannonen et al. 2002).

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.