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Formica
Formica
| 0a. | Nests are giant-sized mounds | F. exsectoides |
| 0b. | Nests not giant-sized mounds | 1 |
| 1a. | Bicolored (head and thorax red), clypeus notched (slave-makers and social parasites) | 2 |
| 1b. | Clypeus not notched | 5 |
| 2a. | Petiole with large, fan-shaped scale | F. aserva |
| 2b. | Petiole scale smaller, not fan-shaped | 3 |
| 3a. | Erect hairs on mesosoma and long hairs on gaster; open habitats | F. pergandii |
| 3b. | Not as | 4 |
| 4a. | Propodium more pointed; orange-red and black | F. rubicunda |
| 4b. | Propodium rounded; gaster often brown with some orange | F. subintegra |
| 5a. | Bicolored, no silvery pubescence | 6 |
| 5b. | Not bi-colored, or if bi-colored, with silvery pubescence | 8 |
| 6a. | Not shining (Rufa group) | 7 |
| 6b. | Shining | F. (Neoformica) incerta |
| 7a. | Tibia on middle and rear legs lacking erect hairs on outer surface | F. integra |
| 7b. | Tibia with many erect hairs | F. obscuriventris |
| 8a. | Ants lack silvery pubescence (Neogagates group) | 9 |
| 8b. | Ants with pronounced silvery pubescence (Fusca group) | 10 |
| 9a. | Ants of open fields; >1 erect hairs on scape | F. lasiodes |
| 9b. | Ants of forests; no erect hairs on scape; clear and brown, smooth and shiny | F. neogagates |
| 10a. | Bicolored - head and gaster dark; thorax lighter (often red); silvery pubescence on head | F. neorufibarbis |
| 10b. | Not bi-colored | 11 |
| 11a. | Body brownish black to black, silvery pubescence abundant many erect hairs (8-27, mean 17) on first gastric tergite; boreal | F. hewetii |
| 11b. | Less hairy; broader range; pubescence variable | 12 |
| 12a. | Body brown-black; << 10 erect hairs (mean=4) on first gastric tergite, pubescence faint | F. fusca |
| 12b. | Body black or brown-black; > 10 erect hairs on gaster; pubescence pronounced | 13 |
| 13a. | Pubescence dense on head, first four gastric tergites, usually absent on legs; brown ant | F. argentea |
| 13b. | Ant brown-black to black; pubescence dilute on 4th gastric tergite | 14 |
| 14a. | Scapes longer than length of head; ant large, black; pubescence on head, thorax, legs, and on 1-3(4) gastric tergites | F. subsericea |
| 14b. | Scapes shorter than length of head, smaller; pubescence variable | 15 |
| 15a. | Promesonontum normally lacking haris; pubescence on 1-2(3) gastric tergites, boreal | F. glacialis |
| 15b. | Promesonotum normally with erect hairs; pubescence on 1-3(4) tergites | F. podzolica |
Reference: Francoeur, A. 1973. Révision taxonomique des espèces néarctiques du groupe Fusca, genre Formica (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). Memoires de la Société Entomologique du Québec 3: 1-316.
