#hemilepistus

[herpsandbirds]

I have a picture of an isopod I saw when working in Fez, Morocco. Thought you would appreciate it.

The North African Desert Woodlouse!

I believe, if I'm correctly seeing a bumpy exoskeleton on this fellow, that it is...

Hemilepistus reaumuri, family Agnaridae, found across North Africa

What a cutie!

[isopods-daily]

Hemilepistus magnus

[crevicedwelling]

SO I’m writing a story that involves a lot of different bugs and bug like creatures (like isopods and other crustaceans) and I have a character who is like a feral child who was raised by giant roly polys. I’ve been trying VERY HARD to find literally any information about the social habits of these animals, because I refuse to just make stuff up to fit this fantasy story, and I can find almost nothing about it. since you know a lot about bugs n such, I was wondering if you had any knowledge about this kinda stuff that you could share.

most isopods don’t have super stratified social structure (from what I can find), and live in loose colonies that aggregate for safety and to conserve water by huddling. if you’d like to embellish a little on usual isopod behavior, I’d say a sort of herd-animal type lifestyle where males gather a harem of females they defend would work, since a number of the larger European species in the hobby have showy males that chase off other males. males are forceful when mating (likely because females are only receptive for a short while after molting) and the pill-rolling species may spend hours trying to pry open a conglobated female. most isopods show only brief parental care, with mothers standing guard over their young shortly after birth before they all disperse.

isopods are more aggressive than it might appear to look at them, and will squabble over food like hungry jackals. they also eat more animal matter than most people realize, and don’t care if the animal they’re eating is still alive as long as it is too injured to move. this includes cannibalism, and they’ll eat molting conspecifics if pressed to by hunger. they do still largely eat plant matter though, and venture out at night to forage for food (sort of like herding mammals grazing) and hide by day.

if you want to make up an isopod species that might raise a non-isopod (rather than devouring a weak youngster on sight), consider Hemilepistus reaumuri, a desert species that unusually exhibits monogamy and extended parental care.

there’s also a number of isopods that live in ant nests, and eat their trash while enjoying the safety of the colony. this is sort of the opposite thing though

[todaysbug]

December 6th, 2023

Saharan Sandlouse (Hemilepistus reaumurii)

Distribution: Found in the deserts of northern Africa and the Middle East, from eastern Algeria to western Syria. Most common in the Saharan and Negev deserts.

Habitat: Lives in dry habitats; deserts, semideserts, steppes, and occasionally on the edge of salt lakes.

Diet: Usually herbivorous, feeding on the leaves of desert plants. Can also consume dead organic matter and microbes found in the sand.

Description: The Saharan sandlouse is unique in the fact that it has managed to colonize an extremely hostile environment for most crustaceans: the desert. Small herbivores are fairly rare in these dry climates, and so these sandlouses make up an extremely important part of the food chain in desert ecosystems.

A few different adaptations allow the Saharan sandlouse to thrive in its environment. In order to stay hydrated, they will absorb water vapour from the air or from damp sand and, to mitigate water losses, they have an absorbent rectal epithelium which absorbs moisture that could be otherwise excreted with their feces. This species has also developed parental care, and is the only one in its genus to have done so. Parents are monogamous, and construct deep vertical burrows in the sand. Both sexes are involved in caring for offspring, bringing their brood food and protecting their burrow. Saharan sandlouse usually produce only one brood in their short lifetime.

(Images by Leonid A. Neymark and Ferenc Vilisics)

[yokowan]

trick or treat! :]

Hemilepistus reaumuri

[transgenderer]

Hemilepistus reaumuri is a species of woodlouse that lives in and around the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, "the driest habitat conquered by any species of crustacean".[3] It reaches a length of 22 mm (0.87 in) and a width of up to 12 mm (0.47 in), and has seven pairs of legs which hold its body unusually high off the ground.

Hemilepistus reaumuri is an important part of the desert ecosystem. It has been found at population densities of up to 480,000 individuals per hectare, which is equivalent to a biomass of 19.2 kg/ha; in comparison, desert mammals are estimated to have a combined biomass of 39.9 kg/ha.[9]

Hemilepistus reaumuri can only escape the heat of the desert by constructing a burrow, which is time-consuming and energetically costly. One parent must therefore guard the burrow while the other forages for food.[12] Although they will forage at temperatures as high as 35 °C (95 °F),[13] these woodlice retreat to their burrow when the temperature is too high.[6] They are also unable to tolerate air with a relative humidity below 6%, which often occurs at depths of up to 30 centimetres (12 in) in the desert soil in the hottest months, and the burrows are therefore dug at least 40–50 cm (16–20 in) deep.[6] The burrows are vertical, with a single entrance 9–12 mm (0.35–0.47 in) in diameter,[14] and there may be up to 20 burrows per square metre (nearly 2 per square foot) in favourable areas.[13] If a foraging woodlouse cannot find the burrow entrance on its return, it employs a complex and efficient strategy to find it again. It begins with a spirally widening search, and develops into a more meandering approach the longer it is unable to find the burrow.[14]

They spend the day provisioning their burrows with leaf material from the surface of the desert, sometimes resting under stones or in crevices of rocks.[6]

[typhlonectes]

Desert Isopods, Hemilepistus reaumuri, Tunisia.

Hemilepistus reaumuri is a species of woodlouse that lives in and around the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, "the driest habitat conquered by any species of crustacean". It reaches a length of 22 mm (0.87 in) and a width of up to 12 mm (0.47 in), and has seven pairs of legs which hold its body unusually high off the ground. 

H. reaumuri occurs at great population densities and fills an important niche in the desert ecosystem. It feeds on plant leaves, obtains most of its water from moisture in the air and sand, and is in turn an important prey item for the scorpion. H. reaumuri is only able to survive in such arid conditions because it has developed parental care of its offspring. Adults dig burrows which are inhabited by family groups, which are recognised using pheromones. The burrows are 40–50 cm (16–20 in) deep, and the woodlice retreat to the relatively cool and moist conditions of the burrow when surface conditions are unfavourable. The territorial limit of each colony is marked with a faecal embankment...

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemilepistus_reaumuri

photograph by Ferenc Vilisics | Wikipedia CC

[bedupolker]

What’s your favorite isopod ? :)

i cant pick one so top 3:

Looks:

This one's pretty obvious. We all know and love the famous rubber ducky, but little do most people know thats only the beginning of the cubaris genus. One of my favorites has to be this "ember bee" species, like it's just BEGGING to be a fire type pokemon. They also come in panda colors, tiger stripes, and more!

Personality:

I think I've had the most fun keeping Dairy Cows. They have big personalities and are very fun to watch. Ive had some even eat from my hands, do "tug o war" over fish flakes. They reproduce quickly and easily so they make good beginner pets, and their spotty patterns makes them easy to recognize as individuals if you somehow manage to keep track of them. Currently I don't keep any isopods, but if I ever do get the chance I want either these or "yellow dot" isopods for the same reason.

Overall vibes:

The desert isopod Hemilepistus reaumuri is probably the most interesting to me. It lives in the dryiest habitat of any known crustacean- North African and Middle Eastern deserts. It has a lot of unique adaptations as well- they are capable of recognizing kin, mate monogamously, and protect and rear their offspring. Not totally unheard of in invertebrates, but rare enough that its worth mentioning! Also they just look really badass. Very tanky. It's definitely a pipe dream of mine to see one of these guys in person.

Currently away from my computer but I'll source the images when I get back in a couple days...

[flecks-of-stardust]

[image description: two pages of pencil sketches and notes. The first page shows a crayfish, which has two long, thin pairs of antennae, five torso body plates (which, as noted beside them, is more than beetles have and more obvious than beetles’ body plates) and about five more for the tail. They also have four arms and four legs. Their mouthparts are somewhat similar to that of the beetles I’ve drawn, but there are more protrusions on either side. There is a raised ridge along their inner arm that is used for crushing or cracking prey, and each of their hands only has three fingers as opposed to the four my beetles have. The tail is noted to be powerful and used for swimming, and that the legs tuck and fold when they swim. An extra note below their feet notes that the range anywhere from two to six legs; having six is more common for deep sea dwellers, and having two is more common for shallows living crustaceans.

In the top right corner is a close up of the mouthparts, showing the mandibles, slightly spread; the maxillae, tucked below the mandibles and on top of each other; the mandibular palps, resting just above the mandibles; and the two pairs of maxillipeds, located below the mandibles. The mandibles are longer than that of insects’, and the mouth cavity rests below the mandibles, not bounded by a labium.

At the bottom of the image is a smaller sketch of the crayfish swimming. Their legs are tucked close to their body, their hindlegs between their forelegs. Their tail beats up and down to propel them through the water. Their upper set of arms are extended, while the lower set are tucked; a note pointing to them says that they sometimes help propel, but are usually tucked.

The second page shows a generic isopod. Their head is rounder than that of the crayfish, and they only have one thick pair of antennae; the other pair is vestigial, showing up only as two nubs below the first pair of antennae. They have only four torso body plates, and instead of a tail, they have a small abdomen with about six segments. A note pointing to it indicates that isopod abdomens are smaller than that of most crustaceans. They have two arms and two legs. Their hands are neatly folded, resting in the crook between their lowest torso segment and their thighs. A note below them remarks that leg number also varies based on habitat, and that most terrestrial species are bipedal.In the top right corner is a close up view of their mouthparts. It looks roughly the same to that of the crayfish’s, but has one fewer pair of maxillipeds. Below that is a sketch of the coverage of a mask when worn over their face. It covers all of their facial features, but their first pair of antennae stick out over the top. end image description]

tadaaaa

i think i’m settling on isopod quirrel, just so i don’t deviate from his canon design too much. i have a species picked out for him (Hemilepistus reaumuri; look at that Color) too. this is mostly the general idea, and a lot of things are a bit slapdashed together, but meh. good enough lol. gets the point across. it does look like they’re weirdly buff though and that’s a bit weird fHDGKJJKS

anyhow yeah. ideas. take em

[sparrowsarus]

[codexurbanus]

Codex Urbanus, Chelonoidis Hemilepistus, rue du Chevalier de la Barre, Montmartre street art, Paris

[herpsandbirds]

Your fave roly polies - go!

Ok, I got 2 wonderful terrestrial isopods for you...

Clown Isopod (Armadillidium klugii), family Armadillidiidae, found in the Balkan- Dalmatian area of eastern Europe

photograph by Dix Balino 

Desert Isopods (Hemilepistus reaumuri), family Agnaridae, Tunisia

Adults dig burrow systems that are inhabited by family groups.

photographs by Ferenc Vilisics

[isopods-daily]

Hemilepistus klugii

[crevicedwelling]

do baby isopods stay near their parent the way your videos seem to suggest? or is that just a coincidence?

as far as I've observed, most common temperate isopods like Porcellio and Armadillidium will stand guard over newborn mancae for a few hours until they're ready to go off on their own. some of the fancy Asian armadillids seem to guard older babies for longer than that, but most isopods only stay near independent juveniles because they happen to be sharing the same bark & clumping together for safety.

there is one isopod, however, with obligate parental care. Hemilepistus reamuri is an agnarid native to Middle Eastern deserts, and they form monogamous pair bonds that raise their offspring in a deep burrow. one parent will forage for food and bring it back for the kids while the other guards them in the burrow, and they will switch duties with each trip. it's a very unique way of life among isopods, and probably an adaptation to desert conditions few other crustaceans could survive.

their little family homes are adorable! makes me wonder if other, less-studied Hemilepistus have a similar lifestyle

[isopods-daily]

Hemilepistus fedtschenkoi

[isopods-daily]

Hemilepistus crenulatus