Giant Terrestrial Isopod or Normal Size.

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MrCrackerpants

Arachnoprince
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I have some terrestrial isopods (Porcellio dilatatus) I bought from BugsInCyberspace.com. They are all pretty big but I found a gravid female today that is 26 mm (i.e., 1 inch) counting her antennae and uropods. Her body is 20 mm. Has anybody seen one this big? I have thousands and none of them are this big. Peter (at BugsInCyberspace.com) says his get 20mm but I not sure if this is measuring the antennae and uropods or not. Maybe they just get this big every once in a while and I finally have one. When I saw it this morning, I was really shocked how big it was. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
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Camden

Camden

Arachnobaron
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Porcellio dilatatus, theyre nickname is "giant canyon isopod" and adults typically hit about an inch. so thats normal for the species.
 
Bugs In Cyberspace

Bugs In Cyberspace

Arachnodemon
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20mm is a normal older adult size for the P. dilatatus, but they can continue to molt and grow. With this thread in mind, I shot the video below today. The large yellow specimen at the beginning is a few generations removed from a grayish specimen I collected in my backyard a few years ago. It measures about 20mm, excluding antennae and is Porcellio scaber. The video also shows an average sized gray adult specimen, and an orange one. Finally, there is a smaller yellow one that is the offspring of the larger yellow one. These are all the same species. The larger one will probably not get any bigger than it already is, but the P. dilatatus and P. laevis do get even bigger.

[YOUTUBE]e1meHphQn-4[/YOUTUBE]
 
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MrCrackerpants

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Bugs In Cyberspace said:
20mm is a normal older adult size for the P. dilatatus, but they can continue to molt and grow. With this thread in mind, I shot the video below today. The large yellow specimen at the beginning is a few generations removed from a grayish specimen I collected in my backyard a few years ago. It measures about 20mm, excluding antennae and is Porcellio scaber. The video also shows an average sized gray adult specimen, and an orange one. Finally, there is a smaller yellow one that is the offspring of the larger yellow one. These are all the same species. The larger one will probably not get any bigger than it already is, but the P. dilatatus and P. laevis do get even bigger.

[YOUTUBE]e1meHphQn-4[/YOUTUBE]
Click to expand...
Thanks! Just the guy I was hoping to reply to this thread. This clarifies the size issue. The video says it is private and won't let me watch it.

On another note, I have some terrestrial isopods that look like Armididillium genus but they have a distinct line of whitish dots down the dorsal line of their exoskeleton. I think I collected them in San Antonio, Texas. Ever seen these?

And one last thing...

Armadillidium_vulgare_006.jpg
 
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MrCrackerpants

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the snark said:
i'd pay solid gold for this one. Cram it in sis's bathroom when she is in the shower and we would have the youtube record breaking viral video. (she went ballistic upon finding a pill bug in her suitcase, trying to climb out a louver window)
Click to expand...
lol!lol!lol!lol!
 
Bugs In Cyberspace

Bugs In Cyberspace

Arachnodemon
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Dec 10, 2006
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Aw, that's a great photo of the kid with the isopod model. What a great face! Sorry, I always set the videos to private while i'm editing them and sometimes forget to set them to public. Here is the bugguide browse tab for Armadillidium. A. nastum sounds like your bug:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/41484/bgpage
 
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