Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and five pairs of branching appendages on the abdomen that are used in respiration. Females brood their young in a pouch under their thorax.
Armadillidium is a genus of the small terrestrial crustacean known as the woodlouse. Armadillidium are also commonly known as pill woodlice, leg pebbles, pill bugs, roly-poly, or potato bugs, and are often confused with pill millipedes such as Glomeris marginata. They are characterised by their ability to roll into a ball ("volvation") when disturbed.
Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice, a terrestrial crustacean group in the order Isopoda. Unlike members of some other woodlice families, members of this family can roll into a ball, an ability they share with the outwardly similar but unrelated pill millipedes and other animals. This ability gives woodlice in this family their common names of pill bugs or roly polies. Other common names include slaters,potato bugs, and doodle bugs. Most species are native to the Mediterranean Basin, while a few species have wider European distributions. The best-known species, Armadillidium vulgare, was introduced to New England in the early 19th century and has become widespread throughout North America.
Haplophthalmus is a genus of woodlice in family Trichoniscidae. It contains 47 described species, of which two are listed as vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List – Haplophthalmus abbreviatus and Haplophthalmus rhinoceros.
Porcellio is a genus of woodlice in the family Porcellionidae. These crustaceans are found essentially worldwide. A well-known species is the common rough woodlouse, Porcellio scaber.
Trichoniscidae are a family of isopods (woodlice), including the most abundant British woodlouse, Trichoniscus pusillus. Most species of woodlice that have returned to an aquatic or amphibian way of life belong to this family. Several species from the following genera live in water and on land: Titanethes, Cyphonetes, Alpioniscus, Scotoniscus, Bureschia, Brackenridgia, Mexiconiscus, Trichoniscoides, Cretoniscellus, Balearonethes and Cyphoniscellus.
Philosciidae are a family of woodlice. They occur almost everywhere on earth, with most species found in (sub)tropical America, Africa and Oceania, and only a few in the Holarctic.
A woodlouse is any crustacean belonging to the suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda. They get their name from often being found in old wood.
Anopheles is a genus of mosquitoes (Culicidae). Of about 484 recognised species, over 100 can transmit human malaria, but only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium that cause malaria, which affects humans in endemic areas. Anopheles gambiae is one of the best known, because of its predominant role in the transmission of the deadly species Plasmodium falciparum.
Trichoniscus is a genus of woodlice. It contains over 100 species, including the common pygmy woodlouse, Trichoniscus pusillus:
Androniscus dentiger, the rosy woodlouse or pink woodlouse is a species of woodlouse found from the British Isles to North Africa.
Porcellionides is a genus of woodlice in the family Porcellionidae. It includes the following species :
Ligidium is a genus of woodlice. It contains about 46 species, six of which are probably taxonomic synonyms of Ligidium hypnorum or Ligidium germanicum. Of the remainder, eight species are found in North America, six in Japan, two in Taiwan, four in China, 12 in Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, and six in Greece.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus classified the arthropods, including insects, arachnids and crustaceans, among his class "Insecta". Wingless arthropods were brought together under the name Aptera.
Trachelipus is a genus of woodlice in the family Trachelipodidae, containing the following species:
Armadillidae is a family of woodlice, comprising around 80 genera and 700 species. It is the largest family of Oniscidea, and one of the most species-rich families of the entire Isopoda. Armadillids generally have a strongly convex body shape, with some rather shallowly convex. Like members of the woodlice family Armadillidiidae, armadillids are capable of enrolling into a sphere (conglobation), and are commonly known as pill bugs. Armadillids differ from the Armadillidiidae in that the antennae are fully enclosed within the sphere.
Scleropactidae is a family of woodlice, with a predominantly Gondwanan distribution. It contains the following genera:
Cylisticus is a genus of woodlice in the family Cylisticidae. There are at least 70 described species in Cylisticus.
Helleria brevicornis, the sole species of the monotypic genus Helleria, is a terrestrial woodlouse endemic to the islands and coastal regions of the northern Tyrrhenian sea. H. brevicornis is of interest due to its endemism, unique ecology and basal position in the suborder Oniscidea.
