Woodlice are the most species-rich group of terrestrial crustaceans. [1] Of the 4,000 described species found worldwide, [2] 35 species in 10 families are native to the British Isles. One of these species, Acaeroplastes melanurus , had been considered extinct in the British Isles but was rediscovered in 2002 at its only site (Howth, County Dublin, Ireland), and a further ten species have become naturalised in greenhouses, presumably transported with exotic plants. [3] Five species are especially common throughout the British Isles, and are known as the "famous five species". [4] They are Oniscus asellus (the common shiny woodlouse), Porcellio scaber (the common rough woodlouse), Philoscia muscorum (the common striped woodlouse), Trichoniscus pusillus (the common pygmy woodlouse) and Armadillidium vulgare (the common pill bug). One species, Metatrichoniscoides celticus , is endemic to Glamorgan, and is listed as a vulnerable species in the IUCN Red List.
"Pill bugs" of the family Armadillidiidae are often confused with pill millipedes such as Glomeris marginata , which is also widespread and common in Britain and Ireland, but pill millipedes have two pairs of legs per body segment, while woodlice have only seven pairs of legs. [5] Six certainly native species occur in the British Isles; some doubt exists as to the status of Eluma caelatum.
Haplophilosciidae is a family of woodlice lacking pleopodal lungs. Its members are therefore restricted to coastal habitats. [8]
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.
Porcellionidae is a terrestrial family of the order Isopoda.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Philoscia muscorum, the common striped woodlouse or fast woodlouse, is a common European woodlouse. It is widespread in Europe, the British Isles and is found from southern Scandinavia to the Ukraine and Greece. It has also spread to Washington and many states in New England, also the mid-Atlantic states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as Nova Scotia.
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.
Lithobius variegatus is a species of centipede found in Europe, sometimes called the common banded centipede or banded centipede.
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.
Armadillidium pictum is a species of woodlouse which occurs over most of Europe, except the Mediterranean Basin and Southeast Europe. In the British Isles, it is only known from a few sites, making it by some accounts, "Britain's rarest woodlouse". Since these sites are all remote from human habitation, in Cumbria and Powys, the species is thought to be native rather than introduced.
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.
Oritoniscus flavus is a species of woodlouse from the family Trichoniscidae, which can be found in Ireland and Wales, and also in eastern Scotland where it was recently discovered. It is a dark purple or maroon colour, and can thus be told apart from the paler Trichoniscus pusillus. It is also, at 8 mm (0.31 in) long, slightly larger. It has a wide head and a tapering body, producing a shape reminiscent of a trilobite.
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.
Invertebrate iridescent virus 31 (IIV-31), also known informally as isopod iridovirus, is a species of invertebrate iridescent virus in the genus Iridovirus. Oniscidea serve as hosts. Infection is associated with decreased responsiveness in the host, increased mortality, and most strikingly, the emergence of an iridescent blue or bluish-purple colour due to the reflection of light off a paracrystalline arrangement of virions within the tissues.
Philoscia is a genus of woodlice in the family Philosciidae. There are more than 80 described species in Philoscia.
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