General Description
Body pale grey with a pair of double flat, oval-shaped plates at the rear. Head rounded, posterior end pointed. Usually less than 1 cm long, but up to 2 cm long.
Biology
Marine Pill Bugs are scavengers and browsers, feeding on living and rotting algae and other debris on the sea floor. They can swim, but do so upside-down. They are brooders, as are all isopods, and the females of some species develop deep cavities underneath to house the eggs and young. The family is the most commonly seen and most diverse of all isopods in southern Australia. Some of the many species are highly ornamented. Males are often more elaborately sculptured with knobs and spikes than their mates.
Distribution
South-eastern Australia.
Habitat
Under stones on sheltered intertidal shores.
More Information
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Animal Type
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Animal SubType
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Brief Id
Pale grey, flat oval plates at rear.
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Colours
Grey, Brown
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Habitats
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Diet
Carnivore
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Diet Categories
Animal matter
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Endemicity
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Commercial
No
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Depths
Shore (0-1 m), Shallow (1-30 m)
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Water Column Locations
On or near seafloor
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Taxon Name
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Scientific Author
(Stebbing, 1874)
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Common Name
Marine Pill Bug
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Phylum
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Subphylum
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Superclass
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Class
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Subclass
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Superorder
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Order
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Suborder
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Superfamily
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Family
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Genus
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Species Name
venosa