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.

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