Armadillidium pictum

Armadillidium pictum is a species of woodlouse which occurs over most of Europe, except the Mediterranean Basin and Southeast Europe.[3] In the British Isles, it is only known from a few sites, making it by some accounts, "Britain's rarest woodlouse".[4] Since these sites are all remote from human habitation, in Cumbria and Powys, the species is thought to be native rather than introduced.[5]

Armadillidium pictum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Isopoda
Suborder:
Oniscidea
Family:
Armadillidiidae
Genus:
Armadillidium
Species:
A. pictum
Binomial name
Armadillidium pictum
Brandt, 1833 [1]
Range in Britain[2]
Synonyms [3]
  • Armadillidium garumnicum
  • Armadillidium grubei
  • Armadillidium rhenanum

A. pictum is chiefly a forest species, and may be found several metres above the ground under loose bark or in holes in rotting wood.[6] It closely resembles A. pulchellum, but it is darker in colour, with less distinct mottling, which is arranged in lines along the length of the body. It is also, at up to 9 mm (0.35 in) long, slightly larger than A. pulchellum.[5]

See also

References
  1. "Armadillidium pictum Brandt, 1833". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  2. Armadillidium pictum
  3. Helmut Schmalfuss (2003). "World catalog of terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea) — revised and updated version" (PDF). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A. 654: 341 pp.
  4. D. T. Richardson. "Some lesser known orders (Isopoda, Chilopoda Diplopoda, Opiliones, Hirudinea and Porifera)". The Malham Tarn Research Seminar Friday 16th – Sunday 18th November 2001. Field Studies Council. Archived from the original on 2008-10-18.
  5. Paul T. Harding & Stephen L. Sutton (1985). Woodlice in Britain and Ireland: distribution and habitat (PDF). Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. p. 151. ISBN 0-904282-85-6. accessed through the NERC Open Access Research Archive (NORA)
  6. Steve Gregory (2007). "Woodlice in Cheshire" (PDF). The Sentinel (3): 3.
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