pillbugs

[David R. Britton]

In article <5mtm0m$n3a$1 at news.iquest.net>, lday at iquest.net (Liz Day) wrote:

> I used to love them too.  There's a kind kind we call sowbugs,
> that can't roll completely up, and the pillbug kind, that can.
> They eat decaying leaves, rotten wood, dead sticks etc.  Hmmm.
> Here we go - "a terrestrial isopod crustacean suborder _Oniscoidea_."
> (from my dictionary)
>
> There are marine isopod crustaceans too - those little "beach fleas"
                   ^^^^^^
> that pop and jump around on beaches near washed-up seaweed, and something
> that looks the same but swims in the water like a shrimp.
>
Minor correction here Liz - these are Amphipods, common name Sand Fleas.
They are also a subset of the Crustaceans, and have both terrestrial and
aquatic representitives, as do the Isopoda, but can be distinguished
(generally) from the isopods by being laterally compressed as distinct to
isopods which are generally dorsallly compressed (more or less).  I guess
amphipods are "shrimp-like" and isopods are "crab-like" in their general
body shape.
>
> For what its worth - maybe someone will know the Real Name.
>
cheers

Dave B. (not a crustacean expert, but with a copy of Barne's Invertebrate
Zoology at hand).

--
David R. Britton, Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong
Wollongong, NSW, Australia, 2522.
Ph.(61-42) 21 3436,Fax.(61-42) 21 4135