#Terrestrial isopod

[stonefly-with-a-pen]

me when in on my computer

[yellow-computer-mouse]

isopods 🫵

I LOVE ISOPODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay so!!! you probably know them as a:

roly-poly

pillbug

sowbug

woodlouse

potato bug

[plain text: roly-poly, pillbug, sowbug, woodlouse, potato bug]

or any other regional nickname! i have noticed that cubaris and armadillidium species normally get roly poly or potato bug, while porcellio get sowbug or woodlouse!

Some terminology:

Cephalothorax: The head (1st segment)

Pereon: The abdomen (2-7th segments)

Pleon: The tail (Final 5 segments. These are much smaller)

Pereopods: The legs (7 pairs)

Gonads: Sexual organs (located under the pleon)

[plain text: Cephalothorax: The head (1st segment), Pereon: The abdomen (2-7th segments), Pleons: The tail (Final 5 segments. These are much smaller), Pereopods: The legs (7 pairs), Gonads: Sexual organs (located under the pleon)]

SO!!! there are three main species of terrestrial isopods (that I know lol)

.....

Armadillidium:

Your typical roly-poly. This is the dark grey, perfectly round little guy you'll find in your backyard. A classic!

[ID: Two Armadillidium isopods. One is dark grey and very round, and the other is slightly orange-tinted and a little flatter. They are on a pinkish-orange rocky background. End ID]

.....

Porcellio:

These are the really fast ones that look more like lobsters. You know, the ones with the lighter ridges along their sides? Those guys. They can't roll up like an Armadillidium, but they do flex their abdomens like a lobster! Also, sometimes they play dead. I don't know if they're meant to do this, but I've seen it. It's very convincing!

(This is an ABSOLUTE UNIT of an isopod btw. Why are you so big. Calm down. Easy on the protein shakes bro.)

[ID: A Porcellio isopod. It is a dark grey-brown, with light orange ridges along the side of its body. It appears to have small bumps along its back. It is standing on the palm of someone's hand. End ID]

.....

Cubaris:

These are the really fancy isopods that you'd buy from a breeder. They have a slightly different face shape. Also, they're adorable. My favorites are lemon blues or rubber duckies! (Both images included.)

[Left ID: Several large and small lemon blue isopods on a log. Right ID: A close-up of a rubber ducky isopod with two babies. They are standing on a sandy substrate. End IDs]

.....

My all-time favorite isopod is the Thai Spiky Isopod. I can't find a species for it, so it's just under the general family Isopoda. I love it ver much tho!!!

[ID: An isopod on a leaf. It is dark brown with two off-white segments in the middle and is covered in small, rounded spikes. Its head and pleon are a lighter brown. End ID]

..... Here's how to sex an isopod!

[ID: A realistic drawing of a terrestrial isopod, showing anatomy. It shows an isopod from its top and its right, as well as a close-up of the gonads. It appears to be a Porcellio isopod. The drawing highlights the cephalothorax, the person, the pleon, the pereopods, the antennae, and the male and female gonads. End ID]

.....

Fun facts!:

Male isopods have two penises!

Isopods have gills; yes, even these terrestrial ones!

They need to keep their gills moist to breathe.

Despite having gills, they will drown if completely submerged in water!

Isopods molt! They also eat their shed!

[plain text: Male isopods have two penises! Isopods have gills; yes, even these terrestrial ones! They need to keep their gills moist to breathe. Despite having gills, they will drown if completely submerged in water! Isopods molt! They also eat their shed!]

.....

that's all my yapping! thank you so much! also sorry not sorry for the essay lol

[arthropodalchemist]

Made a new design for my RB!

[worm98]

i feel like a green-spotted isopod would be super cool. that needs to exist. like yeagh i have pet lichen that can walk

[purple-pigeon-art]

Adding some orange isopods to the shop today!

[zoelikesbugs]

sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt 😳

[panthera--tigris--altaica]

I just started an isopod colony and I wanted to show people :D

I have 5 Armadillidium nasatum in one enclosure right now, been collecting them from my yard whenever I can find them (they really like right outside my front door which is convenient). I meant to grab isopods in about a week instead of yesterday and today, to let the springtails settle in and get spread out and breed, but this one, whom I have named Baby, volunteered by climbing my front doorframe right as I was getting home with all the supplies lol. They're missing part of their right antenna, probably from a bad molt or something, we'll see if it gets fixed when they molt next :)

That was yesterday, and today I grabbed Baby some friends since isopods are often communal :) the biggest one was pretty big! I forgot to measure them, but they're a bit of a coward compared to Baby so I will try that tomorrow lol. But I did get this video showing off their coloring in really nice detail!

I am very excited to grab more in about a week aka when I actually planned to go out looking, I'm going to search for Philoscia muscorum aka the common striped woodlouse, they are very pretty to me <3 going to aim for about 10-15 to start the colony since I have 6L containers and I'm just getting started so I don't want to go too crazy with it :)

Oh and side note, can we talk about how a feeding method for springtails is ONE grain of rice?? Like. One. It's just so cute to me ;_;

(teeny tiny springtail babies are in this photo I promise, might have to click and zoom in to see them by the rice grain)

[bugsinmyard]

I'm unsure if this is a pillbug or a woodlouse (as I've only recently learned they're two different animals) but there were about ten to twenty of them inside of the fire pit out back after it filled with rainwater. I've been spending the day placing leaves for them to crawl on since I read that they can't swim well. Incredibly cute little animals.

[aquar-io]

the top ones, are terrestrial crustaceans, ie have gills, require sufficiently watery air to breathe, etc while on the bottom, those are insects like you’d expect, and the two are NOT RELATED!

i love rollie pollies and evolution does too

[gandalfsbignaturals]

i love watching the lil isopods crawling around in the mulch.... they are so small pushing such large woodchips around... precious lil pillbugs

[arthropodalchemist]

Yippee!!! Isopod time!!!

Heres some blurry pictures i took with an old clip on macro lens :)

this is the first culture ive kept in a while! I started it a month ago and its finally taking off!

[cryptic-science]

some of my isopod molts :)

[purple-pigeon-art]

found some porcellio scabers today. Found a pretty calico that was mostly orange and a wild type. Cool fact about calico p scabers is theyre mostly, if not all female. I cant wait to start keeping isopods again. I miss them. If anyone wants to trade purple pigeon merch in the future (im in north carolina in the US) for some cool isopods lmk. Id like to get dairy cows, powder blues/oranges, a. vulgare in different colors. Anything like that. I may also need a springtail culture but im going to try to collect my own first.

[carnifexus]

i post silly shit on the internet but y'all bitches don't know the bullshit i did in college. i had my lab get quarantined because i accidentally created a new (undiscovered more like) cordycep species in a bunch of isopods i was infecting with crab diseases. they had to examine me and everything. and then we all just moved past that like it wasn't insane

[senselessalchemist]

Isopods Eat Thanksgiving Dinner

Extremely important