Common rough woodlouse
The common rough woodlouse is a little grey creature with an oval body made of armour plates. Its back is covered in tiny bumps, so it feels rough. It is not an insect at all but a cousin of crabs and shrimps that lives on land.
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Fun facts
It has 14 legs, seven pairs, one pair for each body section.
Unlike a pill bug, it cannot roll into a ball. When danger comes, it clings to the ground and stays very still.
Some woodlice are shy and stay still for a long time, while bold ones start moving sooner. They have their own personalities.
The mother carries her 25 to 90 eggs in a little pouch full of liquid under her body.
It hides in dark, narrow spaces because its body dries out easily in the sun.
Most asked questions about Common rough woodlouse
?Is a woodlouse an insect?
No. A woodlouse is a crustacean, a cousin of crabs and shrimps, and it has 14 legs instead of 6.
?What does a woodlouse eat?
Rotting leaves and dead plant bits, and the tiny fungi growing on them.
?How long does a woodlouse live?
The grown-ups can live about two years.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Porcellio scaber
- Group
- Woodlice
- Family
- Porcellionidae
- Classification
- Malacostraca > Isopoda > Porcellionidae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Rough woodlouse
Where the facts come from
- Porcellio scaber (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Yug. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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