Identifying isopods

[ThatSquareChick]

I’m keeping some wild isopods from the backyard, I’m not planning on feeding them to anything or housing them with anything else, I just wanted to keep some over the winter to help stay entertained.
I seem to have two separate species and the sowbugs can’t roll into a ball but the pillbugs can. The sowbugs have such a cool pattern on them and they have really cute little faces.
Can anyone help me further identify what species of isopods I have so I can be more knowledgeable? I can get better pictures if they just slow down for a moment.

 

[Edan bandoot]

the first pic might be Porcellio spinicornis, they're incredibly widespread and ime easy to keep.

they're quite variable, some of my local ones have bright yellow spots down their back.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Here's a link to a study of WI terrestrial isopods. It is a bit dated (1996) and so won't even consider newly introduced non-natives, and implies that distinguishing between all WI species isn't possible using any key existing at that time. They do cover a handful of the common ones. Since a key is hard to use without anatomic knowledge, another rough and ready option might be to search for photos of the species mentioned in the paper and try to match them to yours.

https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1159&context=fieldstation_bulletins

 

[Arthroverts]

Looks like you have a mix of Porcellio spinicornis, P. scaber, and Armadillidium vulgare.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[ThatSquareChick]

They do look like those! I have them in little setups now with plenty of leaf litter, rocks for them the crawl in and fresh fruits and veggies to eat and I’m using those little water polymer balls, the ones that look like little pebbles but swell up into little jelly balls for water and humidity. They’ll eventually get rehoused among several spider enclosures with supplemental food and calcium to keep them away from my moss.

 

[Edan bandoot]

They do look like those! I have them in little setups now with plenty of leaf litter, rocks for them the crawl in and fresh fruits and veggies to eat and I’m using those little water polymer balls, the ones that look like little pebbles but swell up into little jelly balls for water and humidity. They’ll eventually get rehoused among several spider enclosures with supplemental food and calcium to keep them away from my moss.

I wouldn't mix spinicornis with any other inverts, I've seen my local ones eat live stone flies off the walls around lights.

They also have a tendency to climb, so even arboreals aren't safe

 

[ThatSquareChick]

Oh they’re separated, ha ha, I spent two hours carefully sifting and gently using my hands and a little soft paintbrush to gather and separate them. They each have their own boxes. I’ve found out the hard way that the spinicornis climb, anything, everything, day, night, cold, hot, sleeping and awake. They seem to prefer upper places that I definitely don’t want them to be, like right next to my spiders, just chilling as if they know they are inedible and annoying. They’re gorgeous and super interesting to watch so I decided to just keep them as pets and get some powder blues from a local breeder. I love their fancy fringe, checkerboard pattens and little cute faces. They’re curious and love to explore so they’re like, but better than, an ant farm. No stings, bites, weird diseases, no smell, no noise, not much space and they just do their rolie-polie scooty thing.

 

[Edan bandoot]

Oh they’re separated, ha ha, I spent two hours carefully sifting and gently using my hands and a little soft paintbrush to gather and separate them. They each have their own boxes. I’ve found out the hard way that the spinicornis climb, anything, everything, day, night, cold, hot, sleeping and awake. They seem to prefer upper places that I definitely don’t want them to be, like right next to my spiders, just chilling as if they know they are inedible and annoying. They’re gorgeous and super interesting to watch so I decided to just keep them as pets and get some powder blues from a local breeder. I love their fancy fringe, checkerboard pattens and little cute faces. They’re curious and love to explore so they’re like, but better than, an ant farm. No stings, bites, weird diseases, no smell, no noise, not much space and they just do their rolie-polie scooty thing.

Oh they'll get a smell eventually