#both sowbug and roly poly

[sow-bug-or-roly-poly]

both ✅

Fun fact: there’s a virus that makes bugs iridescent

disease that makes you beautiful then kills you

[mothmonarch]

They’re here! Whether you call them pill bugs, roly-polies, butchy boys, sowbugs, woodlice, potato bugs, slaters, armadillo bugs, doodle bugs, or ANYTHING ELSE, these adorable isopods have rolled into the shop and are ready to keep on going right into your heart. Both gold & silver variants turned out beautifully, so grab your favorite right here, right now at MaryCapaldi.com/shop!

[wovav]

The Roles of Roly-Polys, Potato Bugs & Other Macroarthropods

By now, you may be wondering how there can be room for yet more life in the soil. We have explored earthworms, decomposers, nutrient facilitators, and the curious world of microarthropods. However, many larger, more visible and familiar arthropods are also found in soil and in leaf litter—these, we call the “macroarthropods.” Roly-polys and earwigs are familiar soil denizens. Many native bees and wasps build nests in the ground. In warmer weather, predaceous beetle larvae are abundant and active. The often-reviled Jerusalem cricket is found in western North America, ranging into Mexico and Central America. Other arthropods have larval stages that feed on roots; these are often specialists on specific plants.

Topsoil and leaf litter harbor some arthropods that spend their entire life in the soil, while others spend only a part of their life cycle there and are more easily spotted aboveground. Certain spiders, earwigs, and beetles spend the day hiding out of sight, only emerging at night. Many insects pupate in soil or leaf litter, spending winter safely tucked away and emerging as adults when spring returns.

Lifespans for larger soil arthropods vary. Some live a year or less. However, larval and pupal stages may take years in some species. For instance, some species of cicada nymphs live in the soil for up to 17 years, leading to periodic “booms” of up to 1.5 million adult cicadas per acre! What are they up to? Soil macroarthropods most often function as detritivores, eating organic matter in various stages of decomposition. They facilitate soil structure as they tunnel through the soil, creating channels through which smaller organisms, water, air, and roots can travel. Still others, such as soldier fly larvae, are found just below the surface of decomposing organic matter, at the interface of soil and litter. A few are herbivorous and may eat roots, but in a garden with a diversity of plants, they’re unlikely to have a significant impact. Roly-polys (also called pillbugs) and their near relatives sowbugs are the only fully terrestrial crustaceans in North America; most common species are introduced. Crustaceans are distinguished by having gills, and therefore need moisture to survive. For this reason, we often find these creatures in humid, wet, or damp areas. Some are even fully aquatic. How can you tell them apart? Roly-polys roll into a ball as a defense, to the everlasting delight of children. Sowbugs are flatter, have two short “tails,” and are unable to roll up. Both, like other arthropods, must molt their exoskeleton to grow. They are unique in molting only one end at a time, with a few days elapsing before the second half is shed. The result can be creatures with differently colored halves. Roly-polys and sowbugs mainly eat decaying and dead organic material, although gardeners (myself included) sometimes complain that they have a taste for strawberries and violets. In that eventuality, I recommend a judicious sprinkle of Sluggo Plus (iron phosphate, for slugs, plus spinosad, an organic pesticide), but only where damage is found. This will not only eliminate roly-polys, but also slugs, snails, and earwigs, yet won’t affect other animals and the environment. Usually these creatures are harmless garden residents.

[crevicedwelling]

I was always a staunch pillbug for Armadillidium, sowbug for Porcellio/Oniscus/Trachelipus kid while growing up, and snobbishly looked down on “roly poly” (still do).

but then I found Cylisticus convexus, which is both long and flattish but can curl into a ball! neither sowbug nor pillbug! O conundrum! O missing link*!

at that point I’d already started just calling them all “isopods,” though.

* cylisticids evolved conglobation separately from armadillidiids; they aren’t really a “missing link.” in fact, land isopods probably evolved a “pillbug” form at least six or seven times independently, it works pretty well!

Okay because I'm genuinely curious, what does everybody call this little guy

Put where you're from in the tags if you want! (general regions only obviously pls don't doxx yourselves)