Armadillidiidae
Armadillidium vulgare Armadillidium vulgare in its defensive posture
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Crustacea Class: Malacostraca Order: Isopoda Suborder: Oniscidea Family: Armadillidiidae Brandt, 1833
Genera
See text

Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice, a terrestrial crustacean group in the order Isopoda. Unlike members of the family Porcellionidae, members of this family can roll into a ball, giving them their common name of "pill bug," "potato bug", "doodlebug", or the more recent and increasingly popularized term, "roly-poly," which has been used regionally as early as 1968. ^[1]

The best known species in the family is Armadillidium vulgare, the common pill bug. These arthropods commonly feed on decaying vegetation and are found under logs, garbage pails or any other place where moisture can be found. Moisture is essential to pill bugs due to their breathing organs, which are like gills. Pill bugs, although often thriving in damp areas, have often been known to live in dry beds.

Genera include:

• Alloschizidium
• Armadillidium
• Ballodillium
• Cristarmadillidium
• Cyphodillidium
• Echinarmadillidium
• Eleoniscus
• Eluma
• Paxodillidium
• Platanosphaera
• Schizidium
• Trichodillidium
• Troglarmadillidium
• Typhlarmadillidium

References

1. Hall, Joan Houston, ed. (2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vol. 4, Cambridge, MA & London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, pp. 631 

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Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Armadillidiidae". Image Credit.

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