Bugs That Roll Up When Touched

Pill bugs roll into a ball for defense or to avoid drying out.

Bugs that roll up when touched.

Pill bugs live around the world. This name is due to the fact that the pill bug can roll up into a tight ball when disturbed. Lying on their back legs sticking up in the air. This tell tale position is actually a symptom of an ailing bug s decreased coordination and failing.

Their ability to curl up distinguishes the pill bug from another close relative the sowbug. Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice a terrestrial crustacean group in the order isopoda unlike members of other woodlouse families members of this family can roll into a ball an ability they share with the outwardly similar but unrelated pill millipedes and other animals. When harassed they ball up to protect themselves. Roly poly pillbugs aren t bugs and neither are a lot of other things for that matter duration.

This ability gives woodlice in this family their common names of pill bugs or roly polies. The first woodlice were marine isopods which are presumed to have colonised land in the carboniferous. With winter rains bay area pill bugs are out in force. Armadillidium vulgare is the most common species in the u s.

These insects have a hard layered shell which looks something like armadillo skin and 14 legs. Bug rolling in when touched. Video by josh cassidy kqed. In fact many people call them roly polies for just this reason.

They have many common names and although often referred to as terrestrial isopods some species live semiterrestrially or have. Roly poly bug facts. A woodlouse plural woodlice is a crustacean from the monophyletic suborder oniscidea within the isopods this name is descriptive of their being found in old wood. Dead or dying insects assume a familiar pose.

If you have an infestation read below to find out how to get rid of pill bugs. When you turn over a rock old board mulch or leaf litter in your yard you may see a bunch of small slate gray buglike creatures that resemble miniature armadillos. Most kids have poked a pill bug to watch it roll up into a tight ball. They feed on vegetation and rotting matter and can be seen scurrying toward cover under rocks or leaves.