Isopods in a Texas Carwash
Location: Greenville, Texas
August 19, 2010 7:51 pm
Last year had a very dry summer here. I was helping do some repairs at a carwash and noticed a large mass of isopods hiding out in the corners of each of the wash bays. They would get blown out in the driveway when someone would wash a car, only to mosey back into the cool shadey wet wash bay after the car left!
David
Pillbugs
Hi David,
Though common names are often very descriptive and they enable the average person to remember what to call a creature since polysyllabic binomial names can often be both difficult to pronounce and difficult to remember, the use of common names can also lead to confusion, in the case of this Woodlouse. Woodlouse is the common name indicated on BugGuide for the introduced European species Armadillidium vulgare, which we believe is the species in your photographs. The confusion is created in the higher taxonomy. The order Isopoda contains the suborder Oniscidea, which are the Woodlice. Within that suborder is the family Armadillidiidae, the Pillbugs, so named because they roll into a ball. Children also call them Roly-Pollies. By that reasoning, all Pillbugs are Woodlice, but not all Woodlice are Pillbugs. The genus Armadillidium contains two species, one of them being the Woodlouse, Armadillidium vulgare. The common name Woodlouse goes back to a more general classification after the more specific family name Pillbug has been used to differentiate those members of the order that roll into balls for protection. BugGuide indicates the species prefers: “Humid places under stones, bricks, or logs” so their preference for the damp corner of the carwash is quite consistent.
Pillbug
Hi Daniel,
Let me tell you how much I love your website…and how often I use it in my work as a park naturalist! A LOT!!
You forgot to mention in your reply to David in Greenville, Texas that the woodlice are not bugs/insects but crustaceans that breathe through gills, which is why they like moist, damp places. (There are also aquatic isopods!) Another cool thing about them is that the females carry their fertilized eggs in a pouch on their bodies until they hatch. Very cool animals indeed!
Liz (as always, please do not print my work information. Thanks!)
Thanks for the information Liz. Though these Woodlice were not identified as Crustaceans in our response, we did categorize them under Crustaceans.
¶ Posted 20 August 2010 § ‡ ° Identification Request: found on Malibu Beach, Southern Califonia
Location: Malibu, California
July 23, 2010 5:33 pm
These were collected at night the week of the 4th of July by my teenage son on the beach in Malibu, California. They are shown in a regular five gallon bucket and are about an inch long excluding antenna.
During the day I noticed similar looking, but much smaller, bugs jumping on the sand. The color camouflages them well. The small ones were far too fast for me to photograph.
Attached, a small photo. High res one (URL may change):
Signature:
Eli the Bearded
Marine Amphipods
Hi Eli the Bearded,
Good name. These are some type of Crustacean. We believe they are Marine Isopods, but we cannot find a matching photo online. Perhaps our readership can assist.
Marine Amphipods
Karl makes a Correction
These look like marine amphopods (Amphipoda), specifically beachhoppers (Amphipoda: Talitridae). They are probably Megalorchestia californiana, California Beach Fleas (aka: California Sand Fleas, California Beach Hoppers, Long-horned Beach Hoppers), or perhaps another closely related species. K
http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Arthropoda/Crustacea/Malacostraca/Eumalacostraca/Peracarida/Amphipoda/Gammaridea/Talitridae/Megalorchestia_californiana.html
¶ Posted 23 July 2010 § ‡ ° Mating Pill Bugs
May 22, 2010
I read online that this is rarely observed – don’t know if that’s true or not but I’m sending it to you in case you didn’t have it documented on your website. Keep up the good work.
Tim
Memphis, TN
Mating Pill Bugs
Hi Tim,
Thanks so much for contributing your wonderful images to our website. We really appreciate the generosity of the Wildlife Theater website. It seems strange that this would be such an uncommonly observed activity since there is no shortage of Pill Bugs in our own garden.
Mating Pill Bugs
¶ Posted 22 May 2010 § ‡ ° Looks like a pill bug but doesn’t seem to be
April 13, 2010
Dear What’s That Bug!,
Today I found the bug in the attached photo when I was pulling a weed against my foundation. They seemed to be going into the brick wall, where my bedroom is. The bugs are about a quarter to a half inch long and very shy.
I wouldn’t normally be concerned, but a few days ago I found one dead in the other side of the house (not near a wall), on carpet that has only been installed for two weeks.
I thought it was a pill bug, but it doesn’t seem to match the pictures of other pill bugs very well.
The one picture shows some tiny ants just above it (going into my house too…) there may be a symbiosis there to help with identification.
Thanks very much!
WBTtheFROG (we eat what bugs us)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
European Sowbug
Dear WBTtheFROG,
We will attempt to go from general to specific with our response. In a most general sense, this is a Woodlouse in the suborder Oniscidea, of the Isopod order Isopoda, which is classified as the subphylum Crustacea in the phylum Arthropoda, which contains insects and their relatives. The suborder Oniscidea (which is represented on BugGuide) contains several families, including the Pillbugs in the family Armadillidiidae which can roll into balls. Also in that suborder are several other families with members that cannot roll into balls. BugGuide says this of the family Sowbug Oniscidae: “Sowbugs all have tails (uropods) that extend beyond their last abdominal segment. Most cannot roll into a ball. This family has three segments in the small, segmented end of the long antennae, while the Porcellionidae Family has only two segments.“ Your critter has uropods, and it appears to have three segments at the end of the antennae. The only member of the family illustrated on BugGuide is the European Sowbug, and it is reported to be: “Not harmful to humans, rather helpful in cleaning up plant waste etc. Occasionally reported to eat garden plants, but generally considered beneficial.”
¶ Posted 14 April 2010 § ‡ ° what type of bug is this i found?
March 5, 2010
hi i found this bug 2 nights ago at the oakland airport in california in the building. it is very fast and has 14 legs 7 on each side and 2 feeler things in the front and what look like 2 legs that stick stright out of the back but it looks like both of them have 2 long spikes (forming the shape of a v) on each of th e2 legs it also has 2 big black eyes in the front of it.
it is pictured inside of a soda bottle (i had to get it back out side before some one killed it) .
thanks
Nick
oakland california
Sea Slater
Hi Nick,
This is a Sea Slater or Rock Louse, Ligia occidentalis. There are photos on the UC Irvine natural history website. It is normally found on beaches with rocky shores. It might have stowed away on the belongings of a tourist who spent time at the shore before catching a plane.
¶ Posted 05 March 2010 § ‡ ° Trilobites?
December 13, 2009
These guys live on the rip-rap (rocks to prevent erosion) along my Grandma’s property. My Grandma lives on a brackish river leading into the Chesapeake Bay. They appeared about five years ago and have almost completely replaced the snail population. They cover the rocks but scurry away when you approach (impossible to catch). I also saw one swim a short distance. I’ve decided they are Trilobites back from extinction, but I suppose there could be a better explanation. Please help!
Thank you, Kriddie
Whitman, MD (eastern shore, Chesapeake Bay)
Warf Roaches
Hi Kriddie,
These are Marine Isopods commonly called Warf Roaches, Ligia exotica, an introduced species that has become common from New Jersey to Florida. You may read more about it on this website. A slightly smaller species, Ligia oceanica, is called a Sea Slater.
Warf Roaches
Sky Shrimp?
October 25, 2009
After a recent rain storm in the Los Angeles area, a friend of mine reported that there were thousands of the small insects(?) scattered all over her driveway and sidewalk. I’m usually pretty good at identifying the odd arthropod, but this one eludes me. They may be associated with a tall palm tree outside the house, but that can’t be verified.
It looks like a shrimp, or some larval form. Can you pinpoint this?
Sir Real
San Dimas, CA (East Los Angeles area)
Lawn Shrimp
Hi Sir Real,
These terrestrial amphipods are called Lawn Shrimp or House Hoppers. They live in shrubbery and are most fond of ivy. They ofter are not noticed until they enter homes in large numbers after a rain and promptly die.
Sky Shrimp Identified
I don’t know if my last retraction came through, so I’m duplicating the effort.
Very much like the last person who wrote-searched-found-wrote, I am in the same boat. Only after I wrote my question, I read through to another person searched after they wrote. So did I. Yes, your search engine is functioning well within parameters.
THANKS for the great site.
Sir Real
¶ Posted 25 October 2009 § ‡ ° Thousands invading after rain
October 15, 2009
We wonder what these are and where they are coming from (most likely). After rains this past 2 years they come in under the door by the hundreds and die on the floor. The backyard patio of covered with their dead bodies.
Creeped Out
Ventura, California, USA
Lawn Shrimp
Dear Creeped Out,
This is a terrestrial amphipod known as a Lawn Shrimp or House Hopper. The behavior you describe is very characteristic. This species lives in ground covers like ivy, and after a heavy rain, thousands of individuals will seek shelter indoors to die shortly afterward.
¶ Posted 16 October 2009 § ‡ ° 
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