Rathke's woodlouse
Rathke's woodlouse is a slate grey woodlouse with pale markings that look like three thin stripes down its back. It loves wet places and does not mind a flood. You can find it under stones, logs and bark.
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Fun facts
It breathes with five pairs of tiny lungs on the underside of its body.
In riverside meadows that often flood, it can be the most common woodlouse of all.
Some females have orange blotches.
It was brought to North America and now lives as far west as Alberta in Canada.
Most asked questions about Rathke's woodlouse
?How big is Rathke's woodlouse?
It grows to about 1.5 centimetres long.
?Where can I find Rathke's woodlouse?
In damp places, under stones, dead wood, bark and in grass, especially near rivers.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Trachelipus rathkii
- Group
- Woodlice
- Family
- Trachelipodidae
- Classification
- Malacostraca > Isopoda > Trachelipodidae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America
Where the facts come from
- Trachelipus rathkii (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 Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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