| Armadillidium maculatum | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Isopoda |
| Suborder: | Oniscidea |
| Family: | Armadillidiidae |
| Genus: | Armadillidium |
| Species: | A. maculatum |
| Binomial name | |
| Armadillidium maculatum Risso, 1816 | |
Armadillidium maculatum, also known as the zebra isopod or zebra pillbug is an Armadillidium species of woodlouse, named for its black and white patterns. It is native to southern France. [1]
Armadillidium maculatum is average sized for its genus and can grow up to 1.8 centimeters or 11/16 inches. [2] Like other members of its family, it can conglobate or roll into a ball when disturbed or to conserve moisture. [3]
Its striped appearance is thought to be an example of Batesian mimicry, mimicking the pill millipede Glomeris marginata which secretes noxious chemicals and is native to the same range. [4] Armadillidium maculatum, like all other woodlice, have 7 pairs of legs and 7 main body segments (pleon)
Being an arthropod, A. maculatum has an exoskeleton which it must shed (molt) as it grows. Unlike most other arthropods, A. maculatum sheds its exoskeleton in two halves, one at a time (biphasic molting). It is theorized that isopods do this to maintain partial mobility while they are molting and vulnerable. [5]
After mating, a female individual will keep fertilized eggs in an egg-pouch on the underside of her body called the marsupium. After a few weeks, the eggs will emerge from the marsupium as mancae (isopod babies) in sizes as many as over a hundred babies at a time. (estimates vary) [6]
Like other woodlice, it is a detritivore which feeds off decaying organic material. It feeds mainly on fallen hardwood leaves and decaying hardwood. [7] [3] Like other members of its genus, it also enjoys fresh plant matter, lichens, tree bark, and algae. Like all other isopods, it breathes through modified gill-like organs, and requires some moisture to breathe, although it will drown if submerged in liquid for extended periods of time. [8] [9] The gills can be identified as white patches behind the 7th and final pair of legs. [8] [10] Like other members of its genus, it can withstand a drier environment than many other isopods.
Armadillidium maculatum has become a very popular pet among isopod hobbyists. Commonly called the zebra isopod, it is inexpensive, and easy to keep. It is quite bold, which is thought to be caused by its Batesian Mimicry of Glomeris marginata. [3] [2] Armadillidium maculatum has no venomous or harmful bite or sting. [11] Armadillidium maculatum is most often kept as a display isopod in a terrarium, being the main attraction. More rarely, Armadillidium maculatum is kept as a cleaner in bioactive setups. Along with other isopods, Armadillidium maculatum can be help to turn otherwise useless organic matter like fallen leaves into essential nutrients. [11] [3] They can also eat leftover reptile food, and eat shed skin of insects and reptiles. Isopod breeders have managed to develop several different morphs of this species including “Yellow Zebra” with yellow stripes instead of white ones; “Spotted Zebras” with white spots instead of stripes; and “High White” where the white stripes are considerably larger and make up a majority of the exoskeleton's coloration. Along with other members of its family and some others, it is not used as a feeder because of their tougher exoskeleton, and their ability to roll into a ball.
Armadillidium maculatum is native to a small range in southeastern France. [12] [1] Unlike many of its cousins, like Armadillidium vulgare, it has not been introduced into other regions of the world. [1] It has a far greater spread as pets and vivarium cleaners. Like other woodlice, it can be found underneath stones, leaf litter, rotting logs, and anywhere that could retain moisture to prevent desiccation, as they need moisture to breathe.
In biology, moulting, or molting, also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at specific times of the year, or at specific points in its life cycle.
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans. Members of this group are called Isopods and include both terrestrial and aquatic species such as woodlice. 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, butchy boys, 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.
Armadillidium vulgare, the common pill-bug, potato bug, common pill woodlouse, roly-poly, slater, doodle bug, or carpenter, is a widespread European species of woodlouse. It is the most extensively investigated terrestrial isopod species. It is native to Mediterranean Europe, but as an introduced species they have become naturalized in almost all suitable ecosystems. They are kept as pets by hobbyists for their wide range of possible color variations.
Porcellio scaber, is a species of woodlouse native to Europe but with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are often found in large numbers in most regions, with many species preying on them.
The woodlouse spider is a species of spider that preys primarily upon woodlice. Other common names refer to variations on the common name of its prey, including woodlouse hunter, sowbug hunter, sowbug killer, pillbug hunter and slater spider.
Pill millipedes are any members of two living orders of millipedes, often grouped together into a single superorder, Oniscomorpha. The name Oniscomorpha refers to the millipedes' resemblance to certain woodlice (Oniscidea), also called pillbugs or "roly-polies". However, millipedes and woodlice are not closely related ; rather, this is a case of convergent evolution.
Glomeris marginata is a common European species of pill millipede. It is a short millipede, rounded in cross-section, which is capable of rolling itself up into a ball ("volvation") when disturbed. This behaviour is also found in the pill woodlouse Armadillidium, with which G. marginata is often confused.
Glomerida is an order of pill-millipedes found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. Also known as northern pill millipedes, they superficially resemble pill-bugs or woodlice, and can enroll into a protective ball. They have twelve body segments, 17 to 19 pairs of legs, and males have enlarged rear legs involved in mating. The order includes about 30 genera and at least 280 species, including Glomeris marginata, the common European pill-millipede. The order contains members in Europe, South-east Asia and the Americas from California to Guatemala. Although historically considered closely related with the similar sphaerotheriidans that also enroll, some DNA evidence suggest they may be more closely related to glomeridesmidans, a poorly known order that does not enroll.
Porcellio laevis is a species of woodlouse in the genus Porcellio. As the species epithet laevis as well as the vernacular name "swift woodlouse" suggests, the species is capable of quick bursts of speed when provoked.
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, and from louse, a parasitic insect, although woodlice are neither parasitic nor insects.
Hemilepistus reaumuri is a species of woodlouse that lives in and around the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, "the driest habitat conquered by any species of crustacean, not including insects which are now known to be crustaceans pancrustacea". It reaches a length of 22 mm (0.87 in) and a width of up to 12 mm (0.47 in), and has seven pairs of legs which hold its body unusually high off the ground. The species was described in the Description de l'Égypte after the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria of 1798–1801, but was first formally named by Henri Milne-Edwards in 1840 as Porcellio reaumuri. It reached its current scientific name in 1930 after the former subgenus Hemilepistus was raised to the rank of genus.
The clean-up crew is the term that has been used by many aquarists and vendors since the late 1980s to refer to various small animals commonly sold for use in keeping the reef aquarium clear of pest algae, detritus and parasites.
Armadillidium nasatum, the nosy pill woodlouse, is a large, Western European-based species of woodlouse that has been introduced to North America, along with Armadillidium vulgare also found in other parts of Europe.
A bioactive terrarium is a terrarium for housing one or more terrestrial animal species that includes live plants and populations of small invertebrates and microorganisms to consume and break down the waste products of the primary species. In a functional bioactive terrarium, the waste products will be broken down by these detritivores, reducing or eliminating the need for cage cleaning. Bioactive vivariums are used by zoos and hobbyists to house reptiles and amphibians in an aesthetically pleasing and enriched environment.
Volvation, is a defensive behavior in certain animals, in which the animal rolls its own body into a ball, presenting only the hardest parts of its integument, or its spines to predators.
Trichorhina tomentosa, known informally as the dwarf white isopod, is a species of woodlouse in the family Platyarthridae. It is a parthenogenetic species, and only female individuals are known. Native to tropical regions throughout the Americas, dwarf white isopods have been introduced to other tropical regions worldwide.
Armadillidium album, also known as the beach pill woodlouse, is a species of isopod within the family Armadillidiidae. The species is salt tolerant, inhabiting coastal sand dunes and saltmarshes within Europe. They can sometimes be found under driftwood or burrowed within grains of sand of which their colour pattern mimics.