Can anyone give me a really odd fact about woodlice?

Answer 1

As a kid I actually collected them. I think they're really neat. Some facts (and I didn't copy these off a website so I'd appreciate the 10 points!)
1. They're the only land-living crustaceans.
2. You can tell the males from the females (they're like crabs), especially for the flatter type (see #5)
3. The babies form under a transparent skin on the mother's underside. They are albino.
4. They're also called sowbugs and pill bugs.
5. They come in two main shapes: a rounder one with a harder shell, like a little armadillo and a softer, flatter one with two little spike-things at the rear.
6. If they lose an antenna or a leg they can regenerate it (so I suppose they moult from time to time, though I never saw this happen.)
7. They eat decomposing leaves and things like that.
8. They are not considered a pest and cannot hurt you. They might come indoors in search of moisture and evidently if they get desperate they might eat juice from fresh plants.
9. In the tropics they can get big (a couple of inches)
10. They are a kind of isopod. Isopods feature in the Dan Brown book "Deception Point".

Answer 2

From Woodlice Online"

"Woodlice do not produce urine. Instead of excreting urine, woodlice excrete their nitrogenous waste in the form of ammonia gas. Most animals find ammonia to be too toxic for excretion and so any ammonia formed is normally converted to urea or uric acid for excretion.

Woodlice seem to have very high resistance to ammonia and are able to excrete it as a gas directly through the surface of their exoskeleton. This means that they do not need to use energy to convert the ammonia to area or uric acid before excretion."

Check the site below for LOTS of other odd facts about woodlice, including a STAMP issued by St. Helena of a Spiky Yellow Woodlouse and this tidbit about my favorite author, Isaac Asimov:

"When he was a young child, Isaac's mother was startled by the strange expression on his face and asked him what was wrong. He was unable to reply so she became alarmed by this apparent affliction. Isaac, in an effort to calm his mother spat out a mouthful of woodlice.

When asked why he had done such a thing, he replied that he had thought that they would probably tickle his tongue as they walked about inside his mouth. Apparently they did tickle - although his mother did not appreciate this turn of scientific curiosity."

Bizarr-o!!

Answer 3

Woodlice need moisture because they breathe through gills

Answer 4

These are all excellent answers. Just thought I'd add that as crustaceans, their closest relatives are crabs and lobsters. They are not insects at all (and are therefore neither 'lice' nor 'bugs').

Also, the pillbug (the round armadillo-looking one) can roll into a protective ball presenting only its armour plates to the world.

(oh, and they aren't the ONLY terrestrial crustacean, there are several groups of crabs, like the robber crab, that are also terrestrial).

Answer 5

The oxygen carrying medium in their blood is a copper compound, haemocyanin.

Although that's not odd for crustacians.

Answer 6

They are freaky little lice that like wood. Isn't that odd enough?

Answer 7

I had them once, they itch and are really hard to get rid of.

Answer 8

they like wood.