ISOPODS. ASK ME ABOUT ISOPODS.
Known as: Rolly pollies, pill bugs, doodle bugs, potato bugs, curly bugs, sow bugs, penny sows, woodlouse, wood lice, wood bugs, wood pig, chiggipigs, cheesybugs, tomato bugs, armadillo bugs, carpenters, carpenter's flea, boat builders, slaters, smooth Randy's, cellar bugs, bed pissers, twiddle bugs, cement bugs, bench biters.
- sow bugs aren't pill bugs, even though they look similar! Distinct difference is that they don't roll up, are flatter, and have a 'tail'
- a lot of these names are associated with both species as it can be hard to tell the difference at a glance / they tend to inhabit the same areas
- they belong to the Armadillidiidae family in the order Isopoda, a group of crustaceans called isopods
- land dwelling(terrestrial) crustaceans
- have larger aquatic counterparts
- not actually a bug at all, more closely related to lobsters
- 18 recognized genera; Alloschizidium, Armadillidium, Ballodillium, Cristarmadillidium, Cyphodillidium, Echinarmadillidium, Eleoniscus, Eluma, Estenarmadillidium, Paraschizidium, Paxodillidium, Platanosphaera, Schizidium, Trichodillidium, Troglarmadillidium, Trogleluma, Typhlarmadillidium, and Iberiarmadillidium.
- they remove heavy metals from the soil and eat other decaying matter because they're detritivores<333
- they can roll up (conglobation) because of their pleopod muscles and have multiple sections in their exoskeleton that overlap (tergites)