Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice, a terrestrial crustacean group in the order Isopoda. Unlike members of other woodlouse 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, roly polies, Butchy-Boys, or doodle bugs. The best known species in the family is Armadillidium vulgare, the common pill bug.
Ecology and behaviour
Roly poly bugs in the family Armadillidiidae are able to form their bodies into a ball shape, in a process known as conglobation. This behaviour is shared with pill millipedes (which are often confused with pill bugs), armadillos, and cuckoo wasps. It may be triggered by stimuli such as vibrations or pressure, and is a key defense against predation; it may also reduce respiratory water losses.
Classification
The family Armadillidiidae is differentiated from other woodlouse families by the two-segmented nature of the antennal flagellum, by the form of the uropods, and by the ability to roll into a ball, or conglobate.
Within the family Armadillidiidae, 15 genera are currently recognized:
References
External links
- Data related to Armadillidiidae at Wikispecies
- Regional maps for the most common American names for this isopod can be found in the results for question 74 of the Harvard Dialect Survey
