Pill bug
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| Pill bug | |
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| Pill bug in its defensive posture | |
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| Family: | Armadillidiidae Brandt, 1833
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Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice, a terrestrial crustacean group in the order Isopoda. They are commonly known as pill bugs or potato bugs or rollie pollies. Pill bugs are not insects, but are crustaceans. Crustaceans are animals with hard shells made from many pieces for protection.
Pill bugs look like gray pills. The pill bug's abdomen has seven segments. Pill bugs have flat bodies. The pill bug has three basic body parts called the head, thorax, and abdomen, moce and they can be many sizes.
The head has three eyes (simple and compound) and a mouth. Pill bugs have two sets of antennae. One of the sets is visible to see. The thorax holds the legs. The abdomen holds the exopods of uropods and is attached to some crustaceans' abdomens. Pillbugs eat rotten plants, rotten animals, old garbage, and even bits of food in animal dung. Pill bugs do not breathe through lungs; they have gills. Because of this, they need to be in a damp place or they will die. They also prefer dark rocks or any other dark place to stay that is dark. They are more active at night and early morning because of the darkness. Pill bugs are not beneficial to potted plants. If you notice your potted plants have one or two of them crawling around on the plant, there are probably many more that you don't see feeding off of the roots.
Pill bugs have the typical lifespan of an isopod, living two years average and five years maximum. The pill bugs come from a family called Armadillidiidae.
For some people, looking for pill bugs in their garden is helpful to their garden and also enjoyable, especially for small children. To some people, keeping pill bugs as pets is also an enjoyable thing. To keep a pill bug as a pet, it's area which it is kept in must be moist and/or damp, with plants that are fresh and plants that have begun to rot.
