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.
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.
Oniscus asellus, the common woodlouse, is one of the largest and most common species of woodlouse in the British Isles and Western and Northern Europe, growing to lengths of 16 mm and widths of 6 mm.
Ligia oceanica, the sea slater, common sea slater, or sea roach, is a littoral zone woodlouse, living on rocky seashores of the European North Sea and Atlantic coastlines.
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 not insects.
Trichoniscus pusillus, sometimes called the common pygmy woodlouse, is one of the five most common species of woodlice in the British Isles. It is acknowledged to be the most abundant terrestrial isopod in Britain. It is found commonly across Europe north of the Alps, and has been introduced to Madeira, the Azores and North America.
Androniscus dentiger, the rosy woodlouse or pink woodlouse is a species of woodlouse found from the British Isles to North Africa.
Ligidium hypnorum is a species of woodlouse found across Europe and western Asia. It is a fast-moving, active species whichthat rarely grows longer than 9 mm (0.35 in). It is dark and shiny, and is similar in appearance to the common species Philoscia muscorum, and also the rarer Oritoniscus flavus. In Great Britain, it was first discovered at Copthorne Common, Surrey, in 1873, and most later records are also from South East England. It is considered a good indicator species for ancient woodland.
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". 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.
Reductoniscus costulatus is a species of woodlouse in the family Armadillidae. In the wild, R. costulatus has been found in Mauritius, the Seychelles and Hawaii, including the islands of Oʻahu and Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi. It was discovered in the Palm House at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1948, 1976 and 1988, and has been found in greenhouses across Europe.
Platyarthrus hoffmannseggii is a species of woodlouse which is closely associated with ants' nests, particularly those of Lasius flavus, Lasius niger and species of Myrmica, where it feeds on ant droppings or mildew. It is white, 4 millimetres (0.16 in) long, and has a distinctive oval shape and short antennae. Its distribution appears to follow those of the ants with which it lives, and the British Isles are the north-westerly limit of its range. Elsewhere, P. hoffmannseggii extends south to the Mediterranean Sea. It is found outside Europe in North Africa and Turkey, and has been introduced to Australia and North America.
Armadillidium klugii is a lesser-known, rare Balkan, Dalmatia-based species of woodlouse, most distinguished by its colouration which resembles the red markings of the Mediterranean black widow Latrodectus tredecimguttatus. This is probably a kind of mimicry, to ward off predators that mistake the harmless animal for a venomous spider.
Armadillidium depressum, the southern pill woodlouse is a large, relatively common British species of woodlouse characterized by its "splayed" appearance.
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.
Armadillidium maculatum, also known as the zebra isopod or zebra pillbug is an Armadillidium species of woodlouse, named for it’s black and white patterns. It is native to southern France.
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.
