Tiny armadillo

Common Pill Woodlouse (Armadillidium vulgare)

Every now and again, we spot a woodlouse scurrying along the baseboards in our bathroom; I'm not quite sure how they get in. I suppose that since the room is on the ground floor, they're coming through the vents or climbing up through the windows when they're open in the summer. (With few mosquitoes, we don't worry about window screening here.) However they get in, we turf them out when we find them. But this time, I used my handy new guide from the Field Studies Council to try to identify it first — and managed to do so! This little chappie is a Common Pill Woodlouse (Armadillidium vulgare), identified as such by its long, pointed antennae, its rounded back end (with no "protrusions"), and its shiny, uniformly grey colour. Its scientific name is a nod to its ability to curl itself into an armour-plated ball when threatened, just like an armadillo would. Despite the fact that it's largely limited to Wales and southern and eastern England and Ireland, (and only coastally north of there), it's considered one of Britain's "big five" woodlice. It's found in a wide range of habitats, both natural and human-created, and is very common where it occurs. Like most woodlice, it's primarily a vegetarian, feasting mostly on decomposing plant material. It can live up to four years, with females producing somewhere between two and four broods during that time. Believe it or not, woodlice were formerly used as recipe ingredients — woodlouse sauce, anyone? — and swallowed whole to treat various stomach ailments. Thank goodness for modern medicine!