The crustaceans among us

By adamg on Sat, 07/09/2022 - 11:03am

Cambridge Day brings us up to speed on roly-poly little pill bugs, which aren't actually bugs but are instead the only crustaceans that live on land (with gills, even).

Free tagging:

Wildlife

insects

Pill bugs

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Comments

Fascinating

By mg
Sat, 07/09/2022 - 2:19pm

And they have pouches like marsupials for the newly hatched to stay in for their first weeks.

Back in my childhood...

By Michael Kerpan
Sun, 07/10/2022 - 10:13pm

... I loved these little critters. I am sure my love was not reciprocated, as I probably traumatized them.

they aint insects...

By schneidz
Sat, 07/09/2022 - 5:50pm

but they are still bugs/pests (like spiders).

They're not pests

By Tim Mc.
Sat, 07/09/2022 - 8:00pm

and spiders aren't either.

Potato Bugs

By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 07/12/2022 - 6:40pm

They are called potato bugs. Eeka - help me out here!!!

Is there a definition for bug?

By HenryAlan 2.0
Wed, 07/13/2022 - 1:49pm

And does it really exclude these cute little guys? I mean, they definitely aren't insects, but I thought bugs described all creepy, crawly, land based exoskeleton critters.

And apparently they are Vulcans!

By HenryAlan 2.0
Wed, 07/13/2022 - 1:57pm

Pill bugs do not have iron-based hemoglobin in their blood like we do; instead their blood contains hemocyanin, which relies on copper to transport oxygen.

roly-poly should be what we call...

By schneidz
Mon, 07/25/2022 - 7:15am

... police riding in a cruiser.