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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Crustaceans (Crustacea) » Malacostracans (Malacostraca) » Marsupial Crustaceans (Peracarida) » Isopods (Isopoda)

Order Isopoda - Isopods

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Porcellionides pruinosus or floria? - Porcellionides

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Crustacea (Crustaceans)

Class Malacostraca (Malacostracans)

Superorder Peracarida (Marsupial Crustaceans)

Order Isopoda (Isopods)

Other Common Names

cressbug, pillbug, sowbug, woodlouse, rock slater, roly-poly

Explanation of Names

Isopoda Latreille 1817

Numbers

>10,200 spp. worldwide(1) (but probably much more, many checklists seem to underestimate the number of recorded species), >1200 in our area; 11 suborders total, 7 represented in North America

Size

2 to >300* mm (*Bathynomus, a deep sea genus)

Identification

key to NA taxa to family level (with species keys under construction) in (2)

key to OH spp. in(3)

Range

Worldwide

Habitat

from deep sea to terrestrial habitats

See Also

Amphipods are usually laterally compressed (although some aquatic isopods can be too) and have 3 sets of uropods

Insects only have six legs; the isopod group with the least number of legs (Gnathiidae) has 10 legs and most isopods have 14 legs

Myriapods have numerous leg pairs and lack the strong tagmosis (formation of distinct "zones" of modified body segments) that occurs in isopods

Print References

(4)

Internet References

Coastal Isopods of California (Brusca et al. 2001)

Taxon profile (Brusca 1997)

Works Cited

1.	Boyko et al. (Eds) (2008-) World marine, freshwater and terrestrial isopod crustaceans database

2.	American Isopod and Myriapod Group

3.	Key to the Isopoda of Ohio revised by G.S. Rife

4.	A monograph on the isopods of North America. Richardson, H. 1905. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 54: i–liii, 1-727, 740 figs.

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:31pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Lynette Elliott, Mike Quinn, v belov, biosam, Blocky, Astrobirder
Last updated 15 May, 2023 - 7:06pm

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