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Depressed Pillbug (A. depressum)
Armadillidium depressum
The Depressed Isopod (Armadillidium depressum). A massive (up to 0.8 inches) and very particular 'pillbug' known throughout the northern world. The name does not derive from mood, but from its unique shape: unlike the perfect balls of the vulgare, the edges of the armor (epimera) are 'flattened' ('depressed') flaring outwards like the skirt of a flared medieval helmet. It is therefore incapable of closing into a perfect sphere. Rustic, massive cast-iron gray and very slow climber.
Class:Malacostraca
Order:Isopoda
Family:Armadillidiidae
Genus:Armadillidium
Species:Armadillidium depressum
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Environment
Terrestrial
Humidity
50 - 70 %
Day temperature
21 - 26 °C
Night temperature
18 - 22 °C
UVB
None
Species description
Geographical Origin and Habitat: Cold and humid cosmopolitan: Ancient mossy dry stone walls (famous in the old ruins of south-west England), rotten European woodpiles and damp limestone cliffs.
Taxonomy and Genetics: Family Armadillidiidae. (The Fake Flared Conglobator). Similar to the Nasatum due to the inability to make perfect hermetic balls, it differs due to the absence of the 'nose' (scutellum) and the lateral edges extended outwards (flared edges) that give it a much more flattened silhouette compared to the convex dome of the other Armadillidium.
Behavior and Habits: Slow northern steamrollers. Incredibly slow. Depressum spend most of their time motionless on damp vertical surfaces of limestone rock (Excellent nocturnal climbers of ancient walls). If attacked, they try to close into a very elongated ball, leaving a large uncovered slit (C shape conglobation) that English spiders habitually exploit.
Morphology: Flattened in the center (Depressed) and massive (Up to 0.8 inches / 2 cm). The armor is of a very elegant pale ferrous gray or dense gunmetal (Lead gray), and the extreme lower edges open in the shape of a flared miniskirt, protecting the legs. Often the females possess a back mottled with opalescent mud spots (Mottled brown morph).
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: STANDARD BINS OR MIXED/FRENCH BIOACTIVE TERRARIUMS. Resistant and unstoppable species. Deep peat combined with lots of limestone rock (stones, calcareous masonry) and a colossal mass of chopped dried leaves and moss. They appreciate vertical branches to climb in the dark of the night.
Lighting and Heating: ABSENCE OF DIRECT LIGHT. They survive everything and tolerate abyssal colds (English animals accustomed to the damp frost of the walls): 59-75°F (15-24°C). They collapse from starvation and heat if subjected to constant temperatures above 79°F asphyxiating summer or Spanish heat.
Humidity and Hydration: DAMP-RAINY GRADIENT (60-85%). They love water and dripping moss. They infest greenhouses and do not suffer if you vaporize the environment (while ensuring the correct outflow of stagnant air from the lateral holes of the terrarium). Half the box must be a vital mossy swamp to hide and hatch the babies (mancae), the other half crispy dry leaves.
Feeding and Supplementation: Burrowing Herbivorous Detritivores. They grind all the rotten and soggy white wood you provide them (fundamental for acid microbiome). They consume tons of ferns, damp English rotten leaves, slices of zucchini and rotting potato. Very few protein needs and great need for free-range exogenous calcium (limestone from stone or crushed cuttlefish).
Compatibility: Excellent Protected Northern Cleaning Crew. Very useful in massive terrariums of European saurians, salamanders (they adore them as cleaners) or toads that need strong seasonal thermal changes and very penetrating humidity, where the classic Spanish giants would rot asphyxiated.
Health and Common Diseases: Unstoppable Slowed Decay (Silent 'Death Collapse' from heat). If you forget them at 86°F (30°C) in the attic in closed dry boxes without wet moss: you will find them rolled up halfway (imperfect C), with their viscera exploded and evaporated due to the lethal thermal/arid shock.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Cold and humid cosmopolitan: Ancient mossy dry stone walls (famous in the old ruins of south-west England), rotten European woodpiles and damp limestone cliffs.
Origin
Selective breeding and cultivarsEurope, Mediterranean, and West AsiaCosmopolitan or introduced
Terrestrial invertebrate profile
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- 2 cm
- Lifestyle/Microhabitat
- No verified data available
- Activity cycle
- No verified data available
- Sociality
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Venom level
- No verified data available
- Handling tolerance
- No verified data available
- Brumation
- No verified data available
- Molting
- No verified data available
The catalog's scalar value is 2 cm. The British Myriapod and Isopod Group — Armadillidium depressum source reports a maximum adult measurement of 2 cm for this species, recorded as body length. The taxonomic record consulted is Armadillidium depressum. These figures are not interchangeable: the first is the profile's editorial reference, whereas the second is a published maximum under a specific measurement convention; differences among sources can reflect sex, population, life stage and measuring method.
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
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Recommendations grouped by close relatives, companion choices, and similar care.
