Pill Bug Life History and Behavior Paper Pill Bugs are an interesting creature you will usually find under rocks, boards, and/or decaying vegetation. They are classified as terrestrial Isopods; they are classified as Crustaceans which are a smaller group of Arthropoda. Pill Bugs are usually called sowbugs or woodlice. These creatures can live from 2 to 3 years. Pill Bugs are usually found under rocks, boards, and decaying vegetation. They like cool dark places with a humid damp temperature. Although most species live in this environment, some like the Trachelipus rathkei live under fallen wood or peeling bark. Unlike others the Porcellio spinicornis will usually be found around limestone or cement. They hide in these places during day and eat at night. …show more content…
Their natural lifespan consists of 2 to 3 years. During that time they will mature after a year. They usually reproduce from May to September. The females can take up to a couple of days for the pill bug to hatch then they will stay in the mothers pouch, marsupium, for a couple of hours feeding off of them. There are over 4000 known species in the world. Only 12 species are found in North and Central America and several in the Florida wet lands. The only known species of rolling up into a ball is the Cylisticus convexus. These are a common one fount throughout North America. They can be up to 8-12 mm in length as an adult. The most common one is the Trachelipus rathkei, growing from 10-15 mm, which rolls up in to a “C” when disturbed or threatened. They use this mechanism as a defense. Pill bugs are significant for their decomposition such as earthworms and snails. They are also capable of eating copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium. These creatures are also not a bug since they are part of the Crustaceans meaning which are related to shrimp, crabs, and lobster. These all have a hard shell and have multiple legs on each
Oils, smoke, and pesticides often have different chemicals. When these substances are dumped into the environment by factories and other corporations, they pollute the environment. The chemicals in these substances can often reside in an area for extended periods of time, with even longer lasting side effects (Martinez-Haro, et. al., 2013). This means that if the soil of a pillbug habitat is contaminated to become more or less acidic by these chemicals, the effects on that population of pillbugs may be permanent, and should be investigated to see their long term effect. Lastly, concrete, which is often poured onto the ground and hardened by humans in cities, can cause a potentially harmful change in pH. Concrete has a pH of about 9. Over time, concrete may erode into the ecosystem of a pillbug, increasing the normal pH of it’s habitat. This may harm the organisms in that soil, including pillbugs (Kawahara, et. al., 2016). Pillbugs (Armadillidium vulgare) are a terrestrial isopod that live under rotting wood and fallen leaves, in a habitat whose water content is greater than 10% (Smigel & Gibbs,
A two-part study was recently done to show what natural habitat a Pill bug, Armadillidium vulgare, naturally prefers: wet or dry environments along with a light or dark environment. It was hypothesized that a Pill bug would prefer and wet and dark environment based on its natural habitat of soil. For the wet and dry experiment, a coffee filter and soil were placed in each chamber of a double petri dish with one being dampened before being placed in. For the light and dry experiment a light was hung above one chamber of another double-chambered petri dish while the other chamber was covered with aluminum foil, after placing soil in both chambers. An equal number of Pill bugs was placed in each chamber and a study was taken for
The hypothesis that was tested was pill bugs are use to the cooler temperature of the room and natural soil would travel a greater distance once they were in a hotter environment. The hypothesis is rejected on the basis that the p-value of .760 is greater than .05. Furthermore, figure 3 supports this rejection, since the averages are very close to each other and their error bars completely overlap. This rejection means that once the pill bugs where in the hotter environment there was not difference in their behavior compared to the cooler room temperature environment; they did not travel longer distances. However looking at bugs D, F G and H in figure 2, there is a difference in distance traveled that appears to be greater than
This experiment was performed to observe the taxis and kinesis of certain organisms. This is important because the organism’s survival and ability to reproduce depends on how they orient to stimuli using senses. We investigated the behavior of pill bugs to determine if they’ll move towards or away from the vinegar through smell. If I place pill bugs in a behavior tray with different chambers, then they’ll move away from the chambers that contains vinegar. A behavior tray with 5 chambers is used and 2 were control while the other 2 has cotton balls with a few drops of vinegar on it. 5 pill bugs are positioned in the center of the chambers and is covered with a transparent cover to observe the organisms for 10 minutes. Results had shown the class
The purpose of this experiment was to measure the metabolic rate of pill bugs and crickets. I indirectly measured the metabolic rate of each organism by calculating their respiration rates. In crickets, gas exchange is accomplished via a tracheal system [Contreras, Bradley, 2010]. Pill bugs have pleopods, gill-like respiratory organs [Gibbs, Smigel, 2008]. My hypothesis was that the crickets will have a faster respiration rate than the pill bugs. I used a respirometer to measure the oxygen consumption of pill bugs and crickets. After plotting the data, I used the slope to obtain the respiration rate. The respiration rate per gram of organism for the pill bugs was 0.0025 mL/min./g. The respiration rate per gram of organism
During the last decade, redbanded stink bug has emerged as a major stink bug pest species in Louisiana. The economic threat from redbanded stink bug is also rapidly increasing in the Mid-South and Southeastern region of the United States as it continues to expand its geographical range. Since redbanded stink bug is relatively new species in the existing sting bug complex, there is a lack of information about this pest compared to other stink bugs. One of the gaps in our present understanding is its potential spring hosts where its population can build up before migrating to soybean. Field observations have revealed that red banded stink bugs were present in high numbers on leguminous host like medic, clovers and vetch along rights-of-way, ditches
The creosote bush grasshopper has a simple body. It has a rounded head capsule which contains the compound eyes, chewing mouth parts, and the short thread-like antennae, which are always shorter than the rest of body (Estella, 2009). The middle thoracic segments and part of the abdomen are covered by a type of hard shield called a pronotum which extends from the first thoracic segment. The forewings are leathery but they are not used for flight. Instead, they protect the delicate hind wings. They also have long jumping hind legs, which enable them to leap well over 20 times their body length (Anonymous, 2015).
The guiding question was “Why do living organisms respond to environmental factors?”. Environmental factors that pill bugs respond to include water and soil since they live in damp environments. We used these two factors in our experiment. Our goal was to see whether pill bugs would continue to choose the
The structural features of the pill bug allows it to have advantages over other organisms. The pillbugs multi-segmented body allows it to roll into a ball if it feels threatened or in danger in order to protect its self. Another advantage of have a multi-segmented body is it allows the pillbug to semi curl to flip its self back over if it is knocked down. The antennae is used to sense the environment around it, even if it is in ball shape form. The advantages of this is the pillbug will know whether or not it is safe to come out of its ball shape form, if it had been threatened earlier. The antennae also allows the pillbugs to send signals to one another, it is a source of communication between them. The color of the pill
In our lab we were working with isopods, also known as pill bugs or rollie pollies. The isopods that we worked with were land isopods. They like to live in moist places under untouched objects such as boards, bricks, rotting logs and or rocks. Basically, they will live anywhere! If you are lucky enough, you can even find them next to buildings where it is moist and if there is food. All living organisms like certain things and don't like certain things, for example; most animals will try to eat something sugary or sweet, like a piece of candy. While the same animal my not wanting to eat something that is not sugary or sweet like peas.
The Alfalfa Weevils were first discovered around the Salt Lake City, Utah are around 1904. The weevils slowly started to increase its population, by 1951 they were discovered in Maryland. Within fifteen years the weevils had spread throughout the twenty five Eastern United States (Cothran et al. 1966). The insects are originally from throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Alfalfa Weevils belong to the beetle family known as Coleoptera, these types of beetles are broken down into a class called the Snout-Beetles (Titus, 19). These insects hibernate during the winter months, when the early springs hit they emerge; right around the time when the alfalfa starts to come back in season. Within this time the beetles begin to lay eggs,
Yellow jackets are a type of bug that is worldwide, but mostly lives in North America. Their species are the Genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. Yellow jackets build their nests in numerous environments. The Yellow jackets are hard to manage because they reproduce quickly.
These creatures are called zombie worms. The zombie worms were found on the bottom of the sea off the coast of California in 2002. Its own way of adapting goes back in history as one of the most crucial adaptations ever found. These worms live on whale bones on the ocean floor. On the ocean floor, the skeleton of the whales receives a rich source of nutrients for the zombie worms. These worms were even more fascinating due to the fact that they lack a mouth and gut. As it turns out, the zombie worm developed a chemical strategy to receive actual nutrients. With its remarkable ability, “A zombie worm attaches to a whale bone with special root-like structures. The skin cells of these structures produce an acid, which dissolves the bone, allowing the worm to extract the nutrients” (p.2). This is a very unusual, but special adaptation to the ocean floor environment. The worm’s acid drills into the bone of whale to collect the nutrients. Also, another modification it has made to it’s living space is depending on “internal bacteria to digest the fats and oils extracted from their whale-bone diet” (p.4). Holding these capabilities, the zombie worm can take on any whale’s
Isoptera and how colored paper affects their ability to follow a trail. Jordyn Ackerman INTRODUCTION The Isoptera, more commonly known as the termite, is an insect that lives in a nest. Their nest are full of tunnels and caves.
Many people think that Ladybugs are bugs but they are actually beetles. Ladybugs commonly yellow, red, or orange with black spots on their body. There are about 4,300 kinds of ladybugs in the world. The ladybug is found all over the world and there is said to be more than 450 species in North America. The name “Ladybug” comes from Britain`where they became known as “Our Lady’s bird” or also “The Lady beetle”. The average lifespan for the ladybug in the wild is two to three years. Their spots and colors are meant to make them unappealing to predators. Their colors tend to fade as they get older. A threatened ladybug might play dead or crete disgusting fluid that will protect themself. Their Aphids. Aphids are soft insects that suck the