Formica cunicularia (Latreille) is a mining ant of the Formica fusca group. Forelian systematics places it in the subgenus Serviformica. Locally common in southern England, its appearance and habits ally it, to some extent, with Formica rufibarbis, although the former's red markings are far less conspicuous. Horace Donisthorpe comments: Forel points out that [Formica fusca var.] rubescens [=F. cunicularia] has frequently been confounded with rufibarbis, and it is probable that some British records of [...] rufibarbis really refer to this variety. Donisthorpe states that: