Bugs That Roll Up When Touched

These flat 1 4 or smaller insects usually live under rocks or logs.

Bugs that roll up when touched.

When you turn over a rock old board mulch or leaf litter in your yard you may see a bunch of small slate gray buglike creatures that resemble miniature armadillos. Video by josh cassidy kqed. Bug rolling in when touched. Roly poly pillbugs aren t bugs and neither are a lot of other things for that matter duration.

With winter rains bay area pill bugs are out in force. They feed on vegetation and rotting matter and can be seen scurrying toward cover under rocks or leaves. This tell tale position is actually a symptom of an ailing bug s decreased coordination and failing. A woodlouse plural woodlice is a crustacean from the monophyletic suborder oniscidea within the isopods this name is descriptive of their being found in old wood.

Pill bugs live around the world. Pill bugs are sometimes referred to as rollie pollies. Lying on their back legs sticking up in the air. Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice a terrestrial crustacean group in the order isopoda unlike members of other woodlouse families members of this family can roll into a ball an ability they share with the outwardly similar but unrelated pill millipedes and other animals.

They have many common names and although often referred to as terrestrial isopods some species live semiterrestrially or have. This ability gives woodlice in this family their common names of pill bugs or roly polies. In fact many people call them roly polies for just this reason. These insects have a hard layered shell which looks something like armadillo skin and 14 legs.

Pill bugs eat their own poop. Armadillidium vulgare is the most common species in the u s. Most kids have poked a pill bug to watch it roll up into a tight ball. Their ability to curl up distinguishes the pill bug from another close relative the sowbug.

Pill bugs roll into a ball for defense or to avoid drying out. Dead or dying insects assume a familiar pose. This name is due to the fact that the pill bug can roll up into a tight ball when disturbed. When harassed they ball up to protect themselves.