5 subspecies

fusca. Formica fusca Linnaeus, 1758: 580 (w.) EUROPE. Latreille, 1802c: 159 (q.m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1953c: 164 (l.). Combination in 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: 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.