Nosy pill woodlouse
The nosy pill woodlouse is a big, dark grey woodlouse with a funny little square bump on the front of its head, like a nose. That is how it got its name. When it is scared it curls up, but not into a perfect ball like its cousins.
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Fun facts
It likes drier places than most woodlice.
It is often found near people, on railway lines and on empty building land.
When it rolls up, it leaves a little gap, so it never becomes a complete ball.
Some have pale stripes running from head to tail, but not all of them do.
Like other woodlice, it hides under stones and pieces of wood.
Most asked questions about Nosy pill woodlouse
?Why is it called the nosy pill woodlouse?
Because it has a square bump on the front of its head that looks like a little nose.
?Can the nosy pill woodlouse roll into a ball?
Almost. It curls up, but it does not close into a full ball like the common pill woodlouse.
?Is the nosy pill woodlouse harmful?
No. It is harmless and helps clean up dead plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Armadillidium nasatum
- Named by
- Budde-Lund, 1885
- Group
- Woodlice
- Family
- Armadillidiidae
- Classification
- Malacostraca > Isopoda > Armadillidiidae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America
Where the facts come from
- Armadillidium nasatum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Ilona Loser. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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