An Armadillidiidae vulgare (commonly known as the "pill bug"), is from the family of woodlice that belong to the order of isopoda. Unlike other woodlice the Pill Bug can roll itself-up into a ball. An Isopod is a crustacean unlike popular belief of it being an insect. Isopods have 14 different legs that all function the same. This distinguishes them from other organisms that have limbs for specific functions such as walking, feeding, feeling, etc. The many different species of isopods around the world share certain characteristics. Isopods are crustaceans, distant children of shrimps, crabs, and crayfish. Like all crustaceans isopods have a segmented shell (seven overlapping plates) that provides protection from the environment and predators. Like their aquatic relatives, isopods get the oxygen they need to survive through gill-like structures located at the bases of their legs, rather than through lungs like most organisms. That is why isopods must keep moist at all times-if they dry, they die. In the wild, isopods are not usually seen a lot. They are members of that large category of animals known descriptively (not taxonomically) as cryptozoic, or hidden animals. They are most often found in layers of leaf litter, under rocks or logs, or burrowed a short distance under the surface of the soil. The environment they seek is moist and dark, in or near dead and decomposing plants. A Pill bug’s diet consists of decaying plants and some living plants. Sow bugs and pill bugs are scavengers and feed mainly on decaying organic matter. They occasionally feed on young plants but the damage inflicted is seldom significant. Pill bugs form an important component of the larger decomposer fauna, along with earthworms, snails, and millipedes. All of these animals return organic matter to the soil where it is further digested by fungi, protozoans, and bacteria, hence making nitrates, phosphates, and other vital nutrients available to plants. Alt