From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
| Woodlice |
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| Scientific classification |
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Infraorders and Families
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- Infraorder Tylomorpha
- Infraorder Ligiamorpha
- Superfamily Trichoniscoidea
- Buddelundiellidae
- Trichoniscidae
- Superfamily Styloniscoidea
- Schoebliidae
- Styloniscidae
- Titaniidae
- Tunanoniscidae
- Superfamily Oniscoidea
- Bathytropidae
- Berytoniscidae
- Detonidae
- Halophilosciidae
- Olibrinidae
- Oniscidae
- Philosciidae
- Platyarthridae
- Pudeoniscidae
- Rhyscotidae
- Scyphacidae
- Speleoniscidae
- Sphaeroniscidae
- Stenoniscidae
- Tendosphaeridae
- Superfamily Armadilloidea
- Actaeciidae
- Armadillidae
- Armadillidiidae
- Atlantidiidae
- Balloniscidae
- Cylisticidae
- Eubelidae
- Periscyphicidae
- Porcellionidae
- Trachelipodidae
- incertae sedis
- Dubioniscidae
- Hekelidae
- Irmaosidae
- Pseudarmadillidae
- Scleropactidae
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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.
[edit] Ecology
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.
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.
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.
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.
Metabolic rate is temperature dependent in woodlice. In contrast to mammals and birds, invertebrates are not "self heating": the external environmental temperature relates directly to their rate of respiration.
[edit] Common names
Common names for woodlice vary throughout the English-speaking world. They include: "armadillo bug" [1], "cheeselog" (Reading, Berkshire) [2], "doodlebug" (also used for the larva of an antlion) [3], "monkeypea" [4], "pill bug" (usually applied only to the genus Armadillidium) [1], "roly-poly" [5], "potato bug"[5], "roll up bug" [6], "slater" [3] and "sow bug" [3][5].
[edit] United Kingdom
There are 37 native or naturalised species in the United Kingdom, 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).
[edit] Woodlice in fiction
- In To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character Scout pokes a roly-poly.
- Tuck and Roll were the woodlouse acrobats who appeared as supporting characters in the Pixar film A Bug's Life. They have been immortalized in a "Tuck and Roll's Drive'Em Buggies" ride in a bug's land at Disney's California Adventure Park.
- The giant creatures called Ohmu in Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind also resemble woodlice.
- Giant woodlice (larger even than a giant isopod) are infrequently featured in the webcomic WIGU.
- The Gustav, a mecha from the Zoids franchise, is similar in design to a woodlouse.
- In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, woodlice are fed to bowtruckles.
- Dink Smallwood includes the woodlouse as an enemy.
- In a Rugrats episode, Chuckie Finster kept one as a pet, but it died a few days after. Its name was Melville.
- In the underground cartoon Salad Fingers by David Firth, there was a woodlouse named "Bordois" which Salad Fingers referred to as his "little sister." Unfortunately, Bordois died a tragic death by being flattened when Salad Fingers tried to pet her. "You've gone flat, little sister, and you're all gooey! I shan't play with you again until you've had a wash."
- Woodlouse are part of the story in the movie 'Tierra' by Julio Medem.
- In La métamorphose des cloportes movie woodlice (cloportes) are a part of the title, and shots of woodlice appear during opening credits.
- In LEXX, the Gigashadow resembles a gigantic, planet-sized woodlouse. The Lexx-Logo resembles a rolled up woodlouse as well.
[edit] Gallery
[edit] See also
- Woodlouse hunter spider
- Giant isopod, the woodlouse's giant aquatic cousin
[edit] External links
[edit] References
