''Schizidium'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
woodlice
Woodlice are terrestrial isopods in the suborder Oniscidea. Their name is derived from being often found in old wood, and from louse, a parasitic insect, although woodlice are neither parasitic nor insects.
Woodlice evolved from marine isopods ...
,
found from Greece to Iran.
Description
It has a convex body, and is capable of
volvation
Volvation (from Latin ''volvere'' "roll", and the suffix ''-(a)tion''; sometimes called enrolment or conglobation), is a defensive behavior in certain animals, in which the animal rolls its own body into a ball, presenting only the hardest parts ...
(rolling into a ball) without leaving fissures. It has small eyes with several
ocelli
A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...
. Its
telson
The telson () is the hindmost division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment (biology), segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segm ...
is triangular and its
uropods
Uropods are posterior appendages found on a wide variety of crustaceans. They typically have functions in locomotion.
Definition
Uropods are often defined as the appendages of the last body segment of a crustacean. An alternative definition sugge ...
are similar to those of ''
Armadillidium
''Armadillidium'' () is a genus of the small terrestrial crustacean known as the woodlouse. It is one of 18 genera nested within the family Armadillidiidae. ''Armadillidium'' is also one of the groups commonly known as pill woodlice, leg pebbles ...
''.
The first joint of the antenna is remarkably small,
being only about half as long as the second.
Ecology
The species of the genus appear in three varieties: Fully
epigeal
Epigeal, epigean, epigeic and epigeous are biological terms describing an organism's activity above the soil surface.
In botany, a seed is described as showing epigeal germination when the cotyledons of the germinating seed expand, throw off the ...
(land-living) species, mostly moving around at night and hiding under stones during the daytime, these species are fully pigmented; endogeal species, which mostly live interstitially, are generally depigmented with reduced sizes and eyes, and cave-dwelling species with reduced or missing eyes, and generally depigmented. The latter two types do not occur outside of the
Aegean Islands.
Species
''Schizidium'' contains the following species:
* ''
Schizidium aegaeum''
(Sfenthouarkis, 1995)
* ''
Schizidium album''
(Sfenthouarkis, 1995)
* ''
Schizidium almanum''
Verhoeff & Strouhal, 1967
* ''
Schizidium atticum''
(Stefenthouarkis, 1992)
* ''
Schizidium beroni
''Schizidium'' is a genus of woodlice, found from Greece to Iran.
Description
It has a convex body, and is capable of volvation (rolling into a ball) without leaving fissures. It has small eyes with several ocelli. Its telson is triangular a ...
''
Andreev, 2001
* ''
Schizidium christosi''
Dimitriou, Campos-Filho & Sfenthouarkis, 2023
* ''
Schizidium davidi''
(Dollfus, 1887)
* ''
Schizidium delmastroi''
Schmalfuss, Paragamian & Sfenthouarkis, 2004
* ''
Schizidium falkonerae''
(Sfentouarkis, 1995)
* ''
Schizidium festai''
(Dollfus, 1894)
* ''
Schizidium fissum''
(Budde-Lund, 1896)
* ''
Schizidium golovatchi''
Schmalfuss, 1988
* ''
Schizidium graecum''
(Schmalfuss, 1981)
* ''
Schizidium granum''
(Dollfus, 1894)
* ''
Schizidium hybridum''
(Budde-Lund, 1896)
* ''
Schizidium levithae''
(Sfentouarkis, 1995)
* ''
Schizidium myrrae''
Campos-Filho, Taiti & Sfenthouarkis, 2023
* ''
Schizidium oertzenii''
(Budde-Lund, 1896)
* ''
Schizidium osellai''
Schmalfuss, 1988
* ''
Schizidium paragamiani''
Schmalfuss, 2005
* ''
Schizidium perplexum''
(Vandel, 1958)
* ''
Schizidium persicum''
Schmalfuss, 1986
* ''
Schizidium polyvotisi
''Schizidium'' is a genus of woodlice, found from Greece to Iran.
Description
It has a convex body, and is capable of volvation (rolling into a ball) without leaving fissures. It has small eyes with several ocelli. Its telson is triangular a ...
''
(Sfenthouarkis, 1995)
* ''
Schizidium rausi''
Schmalfuss, 1988
* ''
Schizidium reinoehli''
Schmalfuss, 1988
* ''
Schizidium schmalfussi''
Sfenthouarkis, 1992
* ''
Schizidium tiberianum
''Schizidium'' is a genus of woodlice, found from Greece to Iran.
Description
It has a convex body, and is capable of volvation (rolling into a ball) without leaving fissures. It has small eyes with several ocelli. Its telson
The telso ...
''
Verhoeff, 1923
* ''
Schizidium tinum''
Sfenthouarkis, 1995
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4398858
Woodlice
Crustaceans described in 1901
Palearctic arthropods
Isopod genera