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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Crustaceans (Crustacea) » Malacostracans (Malacostraca) » Marsupial Crustaceans (Peracarida) » Isopods (Isopoda) » Scutocoxifera » Woodlice (Oniscidea) » Holoverticata » Orthogonopoda » Crinocheta » European Pillbugs (Armadillidiidae) » Armadillidium » Common Pillbug (Armadillidium vulgare)
Photo#69925
Pill Bug - Armadillidium vulgare
Copyright © 2006 Callen Harty

Pill Bug - Armadillidium vulgare
Monona, Dane County, Wisconsin, USA
August 8, 2006
I've seen these a lot in my life, but have never known what they are and can't find anything similar on Bug Guide. When we were kids we called them bloodsuckers, but I'm sure that's just a colloquialism. Any help?
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Contributed by Callen Harty on 10 August, 2006 - 8:30pm
Last updated 7 July, 2008 - 6:15pm

Moved
Moved from Glomeridae.
… john and jane balaban, 8 March, 2007 - 6:51pm login or register to post comments

Pill Bug
These are commonly mistaken for pill millipedes, but they aren't. They aren't even myriapods. This is a kind of crustatian in the group Isopoda. They are called pill bugs, woodlice, potato bugs, and a lot more depending on where you live. The back end is a big givaway. Woodlice have many small segments at the end as you see in this picture while a pill millipede ends in one large segment.
… Ago, 15 October, 2006 - 11:23am login or register to post comments

 
Yes, Dr Shelley agrees -
this is not a glomerid millipede but a “pill bug” isopod crustacean, so it should be removed from the millipede/myriapod part of the list and transferred to isopods, wherever they are. The name of this isopod is Armadillidium vulgare.
… john and jane balaban, 8 March, 2007 - 6:50pm login or register to post comments

Glomeridae
This is a millipede, (Diplopoda). They do not suck blood, they are very harmless vegetarians and strange but true this is the first pic in the guide of this not uncommon group.
… Martin Hauser, 11 August, 2006 - 3:02am login or register to post comments

 
Glomeridae
Thanks. Glad I could be the first, though I wish it were a better shot. The little guy wouldn't stop moving.
… Callen Harty, 15 August, 2006 - 5:39pm login or register to post comments

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