Jump to content

Armadillidium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by InternetArchiveBot (talk | contribs) at 19:20, 15 February 2022 (Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8.6). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Armadillidium
An Armadillidium granulatum in its roll-up stages.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Isopoda
Suborder: Oniscidea
Family: Armadillidiidae
Genus: Armadillidium
Brandt, 1833
Diversity
189 species

Armadillidium (/ɑːrmədɪˈlɪdiəm/) 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.

Distribution and habitat

They typically feed on moss, algae, bark and other decaying organic matter. They are usually found in moist areas such as decomposing leaf matter and soil. Armadillidium vulgare is the most abundant species in Europe and has been introduced worldwide. However, the vast majority of species are endemic to small regions close to the Mediterranean Sea, in much lower numbers than common species such as A. vulgare, and hence are understudied.

Description

Unlike other terrestrial arthropods such as insects and spiders, pill bugs do not have a waxy cuticle that would reduce evaporation from their bodies. Pill bugs also use modified lungs, called pseudotrachea, for respiration, and the lungs must remain moist to function. Individual pill bugs typically live for two or three years, and females brood eggs once or twice each summer. Several hundred eggs are brooded at a time in the marsupium, a pocket on the ventral side of the female pill bug. The marsupium must also be kept filled with water until the young hatch and crawl away.

The colouration especially of young A. klugii resembles the red hourglass marking 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.[1]

Species

There are 189 recognised species in the genus Armadillidium:[2][3]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Armadillidium.
Wikispecies has information related to Armadillidium.
  1. ^ Revision of the Armadillidium klugii-group (Isopoda: Oniscidea)
  2. ^ Helmut Schmalfuss (2003). "World catalog of terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea) — revised and updated version" (PDF). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A. 654: 341 pp. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  3. ^ "Armadillidium". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Armadillidium&oldid=1072060281"