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Formica

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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.