Robert Watcher
Well-known member
Visiting our friends this afternoon —— their grandchildren were busy in the back yard, collecting bugs and worms from under stumps and rocks.
The kids were showing them to me and pulled out this absolutely minuscule little circle that they seemed to be aware was called a “potato bug”.
Fortunately I had my camera with macro lens sitting in the car and got the kids involved in seeing the bug closeup, by having them set up a high table to rest the bug onto in order for me to get my camera in nice and close.
When viewing the captured picture, it immediately became apparently that was more than just a little curled up worm. As I was saying that the tail end looks more like a lobster with its sections/plates —- my buddy Rick concluded that it had to be a crustation. We described it curled up almost like an armadillo……
…… SURE ENOUGH - with the aid of GOOGLE LENS, when I got home, I was able to identify this little 2-4mm long creature (far smaller than the eraser on the end of a pencil)
“Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice, a terrestrial crustacean group in the order Isopoda. Unlike members of some other woodlice families, members of this family can roll into a ball, an ability they share with the outwardly similar but unrelated pill millipedes and other animals. This ability gives woodlice in this family their common names of pill bugs or roly polies. Other common names include slaters, potato bugs, butchy boys and doodle bugs.”
🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸
This little fellow stayed curled up and I was able to capture his underside.
The kids were showing them to me and pulled out this absolutely minuscule little circle that they seemed to be aware was called a “potato bug”.
Fortunately I had my camera with macro lens sitting in the car and got the kids involved in seeing the bug closeup, by having them set up a high table to rest the bug onto in order for me to get my camera in nice and close.
When viewing the captured picture, it immediately became apparently that was more than just a little curled up worm. As I was saying that the tail end looks more like a lobster with its sections/plates —- my buddy Rick concluded that it had to be a crustation. We described it curled up almost like an armadillo……
…… SURE ENOUGH - with the aid of GOOGLE LENS, when I got home, I was able to identify this little 2-4mm long creature (far smaller than the eraser on the end of a pencil)
“Armadillidiidae is a family of woodlice, a terrestrial crustacean group in the order Isopoda. Unlike members of some other woodlice families, members of this family can roll into a ball, an ability they share with the outwardly similar but unrelated pill millipedes and other animals. This ability gives woodlice in this family their common names of pill bugs or roly polies. Other common names include slaters, potato bugs, butchy boys and doodle bugs.”
🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸🔹🔸
This little fellow stayed curled up and I was able to capture his underside.