Gestro's pill woodlouse
Gestro's pill woodlouse is a big woodlouse from a small part of Italy. It is dark grey or brown with rows of yellow spots. When something scares it, it rolls itself up into a tight little ball.
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Fun facts
It can grow up to 22 millimetres long and 10 millimetres wide, which is big for a woodlouse.
Its yellow spots are a warning to birds that it does not taste good.
It can give off a very nasty smell from glands on its sides.
Great tits that eat one drink water and wipe their beaks afterwards, as if to get rid of the taste.
It lives only in a tiny strip of Italian coast, between the towns of Ceriale and Bergeggi.
Most asked questions about Gestro's pill woodlouse
?How big is Gestro's pill woodlouse?
It can be up to 22 mm long, which is large for a woodlouse.
?Why does a pill woodlouse roll into a ball?
To protect itself when it is disturbed. Its hard back plates cover its soft belly.
?Can you keep Gestro's pill woodlouse as a pet?
Yes. Some hobbyists keep it at home.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Armadillidium gestroi
- Named by
- Tua, 1900
- Group
- Woodlice
- Family
- Armadillidiidae
- Classification
- Malacostraca > Isopoda > Armadillidiidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Gestroi's pill woodlouse
Where the facts come from
- Armadillidium gestroi (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 (c) milan kořínek, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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