Armadillidium vulgare (Latreille, 1804)

Boeraeve, Pepijn, Arijs, Gert, Segers, Stijn, Smedt, Pallieter De, Spinicornis & Utm, Belgium. Every grid cell of the, 1908, Habitat and seasonal activity patterns of the terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea) of Belgium, Belgian Journal of Entomology 116, pp. 1-95 : 64

26. Armadillidium vulgare (Latreille, 1804)

( Fig. 2 f , Fig. 30 , Map 26 , Table 28)

Armadillidium vulgare is a very common species that can be found in a wide variety of habitats in Belgium ( Table 28). The species is absent in the Ardennes ecological region and rare or absent in large parts of the Campine region ( Map 26 ), which may be explained by acidic soil types in those regions and low temperatures in the Ardennes ecological region. A. vulgare shows a marked preference for a higher soil pH ( VAN STRAALEN & VERHOEF, 1997). Armadillidium vulgare has a high desiccation resistance ( DIAS et al., 2013) and it is one of the few species that can be found running around exposed in full sunlight. The species is common on graveyards and near all kinds of roads and buildings where it hides under stones and wood. It can be very common on dry and rough grasslands if sufficient cover like stones and dead wood is present (see also DE SMEDT et al., 2021). As eurytopic species, it is also commonly found in gardens and parks. Compared to other eurytopic species A. vulgare occurs less in forests compared to anthropogenic habitats and open landscape habitats. In forests, the species shows its highest abundances in the drier and warmer forest edges while it is almost absent from forest interior habitat ( DE SMEDT et al., 2018a).

As other drought-resistant species, it is most often recorded during summer months in all kind of habitat types with a peak in the number of records from May until August ( Fig. 30 ). This is supported by pitfall trap data from DE SMEDT et al. (2021) where the species shows the strongest summer peak of eight common terrestrial isopod species in an abandoned sand quarry.

Figures

Map 26. Distribution map for Armadillidium vulgare.

Fig. 2. a, Ligia oceanica; b, Haplophthalmus danicus; c, Miktoniscus patience; d, Trichoniscus pygmaeus; e, Armadillidium pictum; f, Armadillidium vulgare; g, Porcellio dilatatus; h, Porcellio laevis.

Fig. 30. Corrected number of observations per two-month period for Armadillidium vulgare (N = 502).