List of woodlice of the British Isles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Woodlice are the most species-rich group of terrestrial crustaceans.[1] Of the 4,000 described species found worldwide,[2] 35 species in 10 families are native to the British Isles. One of these species, Acaeroplastes melanurus, had been considered extinct in the British Isles but was rediscovered in 2002 at its only site (Howth, County Dublin, Ireland), and a further ten species have become naturalised in greenhouses, presumably transported with exotic plants.[3] Five species are especially common throughout the British Isles, and are known as the "famous five species".[4] They are Oniscus asellus (the common shiny woodlouse), Porcellio scaber (the common rough woodlouse), Philoscia muscorum (the common striped woodlouse), Trichoniscus pusillus (the common pygmy woodlouse) and Armadillidium vulgare (the common pill bug). One species, Metatrichoniscoides celticus, is endemic to Glamorgan, and is listed as a vulnerable species in the IUCN Red List.