Woodlouse

Woodlice

Armadillidium Vulgare

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Subphylum: Crustacea

Class: Malacostraca

Order: Isopoda

Suborder: Oniscidea

Infraorders and Families

Not necessarily a complete list
Infraorders:
Ligiamorpha
Tylomorpha
Families:
Dubioniscidae
Irmaosidae
Pseudarmadillidae
Scleropactidae

A woodlouse, also known as a pill bug (Armadillidium only), armadillo bug, sow bug, slater, or rolly polly, is a terrestrial crustacean with a rigid, segmented, calcareous exoskeleton and fourteen jointed limbs. They form the suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda, with over 3000 known species.

Woodlice need moisture and so are usually found in damp, dark places, such as under rocks and logs. They are usually nocturnal and are detritovores, feeding only on dead plant matter.

In the UK there are 37 native or naturalized species ranging in colour and in size (3 to 30mm) of which only five are common: 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).

A female woodlouse will keep fertilised eggs in a patch on the underside of her body until the hatch into small, pink offspring. The mother then appears to be "giving birth" to her offspring.