Okay - I call them potato bugs, but apparently I'm wrong. What's the proper name for those little grey armadillo-like insects that curl up into balls when you poke them? You can find them just about anywhere in the midwest and northeast of the U.S.A., and I grew up calling them potato bugs and poking them. But I have no idea what they actually are called. My friend calls them "Roly-Polys," if that's any help.
2006-08-21 10:18:19 · 9 answers · asked by meg 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Many people call them sow-bugs. They are related to Crustacians (crayfish), and belong to the order Isopoda.
There are two different types of isopods, terrestrial and aquatic. The terrestrial ones generally have a more oval appearance, while the aquatic isopods have longer antennae and 2 forked telson coming off the back.
2006-08-21 11:07:49 · answer #1 · answered by gshprd918 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Woodlice (known locally under many names; see below) are terrestrial crustaceans 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 because they breathe through gills, called pseudotrachea, and so are usually found in damp, dark places, such as under rocks and logs. They are usually nocturnal and are detritivores, feeding mostly on dead plant matter. They should be considered beneficial garden organisms as they recycle nutrients back into the soil. In artificial environments such as greenhouses where it can be very moist, woodlice may become abundant and damage young plants.
In the United Kingdom there are 37 native or naturalised species ranging in colour and in size (3-30 mm) 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).
They have a shell-like exoskeleton. As the woodlouse grows, it must progressively shed this shell. The moult takes place in two stages. The back half is lost first, followed two or three days later by the front. Some woodlice are able to roll into a ball-like form when threatened by predators, leaving only their armoured back exposed. This ability explains many of the woodlouse's common names.
A female woodlouse will keep fertilised eggs in a patch on the underside of her body until they hatch into small, pink offspring. The mother then appears to "give birth" to her offspring.
Common names for woodlice vary throughout the English-speaking world. They include: "armadillo bug", "(bowling) ball bug", "butcher boy", "carpenter" (Newfoundland), "cheesybug" (Kent), "cheeselog" or "parsons pig" (Isle of Man), "chuggy pig", "daddy gramfer/gampfer" (West Country), "doodle bug", "Granny Grey" (South Wales), "grub", "hardy back", "pill bug" (usually applied only to the genus Armadillidium), "pookie/pooky" (Ireland), "potato bug", "roly-poly", "slater" (Australia and New Zealand), "sow bug", and "woodbug".
(More information including a picture at the site listed below)
2006-08-21 10:25:29 · answer #2 · answered by ted_armentrout 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Names For Woodlice
2016-12-18 07:40:50 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sow bugs. Roly-poly is a common name for them also. They're not insects, actually, they're crustaceans - related to shrimp and crayfish, and more closely, to those little hoppers you find on beaches.
2006-08-21 10:29:13 · answer #4 · answered by injanier 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
pill bug
2006-08-22 13:27:51 · answer #5 · answered by poohbutt53950 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sow bug,I think.
2006-08-22 17:19:50 · answer #6 · answered by luther 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
bug bug
2006-08-21 10:54:16 · answer #7 · answered by sarah m 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are called..........pill bugs
2006-08-21 10:33:40 · answer #8 · answered by AvesPro 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I call them, rollie pollies, I dunno I have just always called them that since I was about 4!
2006-08-21 16:15:57 · answer #9 · answered by prfctflame4203 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋