Bug identification please
Location: Berkeley, CA
December 19, 2010 8:36 pm
Found these in our finished basement, which is connected by a doorway to an unfinished basement. The dog also goes in there, so stuff from outdoors tends to get dragged in more than in the rest of the house. Area is generally cool, somewhat high humidity. Photos are the same positions, just lit differently. THANKS!
Signature: Earthman

Lawn Shrimp

Dear Earthman,
We suspect that with Southern California experiencing the worst storm in the decade, with predictions being in excess of 8 inches of rainfall in less than a week, your letter will be the first of many requesting the identification of Lawn Shrimp, Arcitalitrus sylvaticus, though we also predict that your photo will be among the best we receive.  Lawn Shrimp are terrestrial amphipods that proliferate in the damp conditions of well watered gardens, however, when soaking rains arrive, they often seek shelter indoors where they promptly die and turn pink.  According to BugGuide, they are found in : “Moist soil and organic matter within 13 mm of the surface, often among ivy or other groun covers. Their exoskelton has no waxy coating to keep moisture in, so they can’t survive dryness. They drown in water, though, so they need continuously moist, but not waterlogged conditions.”   BugGuide also remarks:  “These are rarely seen except when flooding or lack of moisture forces them to abandon their home in the soil in search for suitable conditions. At such times they often end up dieing on pavement or in homes and become a nuisance. Once they start appearing, there’s not much that can be done except to sweep them up- pesticides are pointless, bcause by then they’re already dieing or dead.  The best solution is to keep the numbers down the rest of the year by keeping the soil from staying too moist- in California, especially, they’re a sign of overwatering. Physical barriers like weather-stripping can also help to keep them out of homes, but their bodies are flat and narrow, allowing them to slip through surprisingly narrow cracks.“  Lawn Shrimp, which are also known as Househoppers, are not native to California.  They were introduced from Australia.

Hey, thanks so much for the help. Very informative, and your expert reply is much appreciated. You’re doing a public service. THANKS!

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omg, is this a bed bug?!
Location: washington dc
November 6, 2010 4:59 pm
bugman team -
i found a bed in my bug, and im wondering if its a bedbug! so gross. pics attached. should i get an exterminator? i’ve done a thorough search, and i can’t find any other bugs in my bed.
guess this is what i get for having a strange boy in my bed last night.
Signature: strange boys bring strange bugs

European Sowbug

Dear strange boys bring strange bugs,
Because of a recent interview we gave on Sciencebase, we learned that in the UK a bug is a germ.  The creature in your photograph is a Sowbug, or Woodlouse in the UK, a terrestrial crustacean that is found, according to BugGuide, in:  “Dark damp places with rotting organic matter – their favorite place in a garden is usually the compost heap, where they are very effective decomposers. Can reliably be found under rocks and logs, too.“ How it got to your bed or if it was transported there by the strange boy is not our concern, however in response to your question, you do not need an exterminator.  BugGuide also includes this remark:  “Not harmful to humans, rather helpful in cleaning up plant waste etc. Occasionally reported to eat garden plants, but generally considered beneficial.“  This was probably an isolated incident, though depending upon the frequency of strange boys in your life, it is entirely possible that you may come into contact with other less harmless bugs.

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.

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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.”

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