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Sticker of Heller's isopod
Bug card No. 2218 of 4,939

Heller's isopod

Helleria brevicornis
Name means: “Heller's short-horned one, named after the scientist Camill Heller and its short feelers”
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsWoodliceForests and woods14 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

Heller's isopod is a big yellow-brown woodlouse that lives in oak forests on a few islands in the Mediterranean Sea. When it is scared, it rolls up into a perfect ball and tucks its feelers inside. It is one of the biggest woodlice in Europe.

Fun fact: woodlice are not insects. They are crustaceans, cousins of crabs and shrimps, that live on land.
Lives in
Corsica, Sardinia, small Italian islands and a few spots on the French and Italian coast, in oak forests
Length
2.7 cm (1.1 in)
Top speed
about 0.22 km/h (0.14 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting. It just rolls into a ball.
What does it eat?
It eats fallen leaves and rotting plant bits in the forest soil, and it helps turn them back into earth.
For real!Photo of Heller's isopod
Picture by Dr. Victor von Ebner. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Heller's isopod about 2.7 cm long (1.1 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 4 grains of rice in a rowit has about 14 legscould run across a dinner table in 16 seconds

How big is Heller's isopod compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It digs burrows in the soil as deep as 10 centimetres.

2

It lives in big groups, a bit like a family.

3

When it is time to mate, the male climbs on the female's back and holds on tight for days. No other woodlouse that lives fully on land does this.

4

The mother carries her eggs in a pouch under her body, where they get water, air and food.

5

Young ones are bumpy and hairy, but grown-ups are almost smooth with light spots.

you asked

Most asked questions about Heller's isopod

?Can Heller's isopod roll into a ball?

Yes. It rolls into a perfect ball with its feelers tucked inside.

?What does Heller's isopod eat?

Fallen leaves and rotting plant bits in the forest soil.

?How big is Heller's isopod?

It can grow up to 27 millimetres long, which is big for a woodlouse.

Myth buster

Myth: Woodlice are insects.

Truth: They are not. Woodlice are crustaceans, cousins of crabs and shrimps, and they have 14 legs instead of 6.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Helleria brevicornis
Named by
Ebner, 1868
Group
Woodlice
Family
Tylidae
Classification
Malacostraca > Isopoda > Tylidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Helleria brevicornis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Dr. Victor von Ebner. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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