wood lice
Roly-poly relatives
Wood lice are small crustaceans that live on land, typically found in damp environments under rocks, logs, and leaf litter.
Despite their name, they aren't lice at all—they're more closely related to shrimp and crabs.
Their segmented, oval bodies can curl into a ball when threatened, earning them names like pill bug and roly-poly in American English.
The garden was full of wood lice when I lifted the stepping stones.
- isopodsEqual-footed crustacean order
- crustaceansExoskeleton-bearing aquatic arthropods
- pill bugsSegmented land crustaceans
- roly-polyPlump and round
- rolled upWound into a tube
damp · decaying · leaf litter · compost · garden · garden pest · cellar · basement · segmented · grey · curling · scuttling · moisture · logs · nocturnal · detritivores · exoskeleton · mulch
- arthropodsarthropod, arthropods, Arthropoda, insects, insect
- forest floorfallen leaves, leaf litter, dead leaves, rotting logs, pine needles
- wood decaybrown rot, white rot, dry rot, soft rot, wet rot
- wood peststermites, termite, carpenter ants, carpenter ant, bark beetles
- tiny invertebratesmites, tardigrades, nematodes, water bears, springtails