Schizidium is a genus of woodlice,[1] found from Greece to Iran.[2]

Schizidium
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Isopoda
Suborder: Oniscidea
Family: Armadillidiidae
Genus: Schizidium
Verhoeff, 1901
Synonyms

Cretodilium Vandel, 1958
Pareluma Omer-Cooper, 1923

Description

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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 and its uropods are similar to those of Armadillidium.[2][3] The first joint of the antenna is remarkably small,[4] being only about half as long as the second.[3]

Ecology

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The species of the genus appear in three varieties: Fully epigeal (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.[2]

Species

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Schizidium contains the following species:[4]

References

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  1. ^ Boyko, Christopher B. (2023). Schotte M, Boyko CB, Bruce NL, Poore GC, Taiti S, Wilson GD (eds.). "Schizidium Verhoeff, 1901". World Marine, Freshwater and Terrestrial Isopod Crustaceans database. World Register of Marine Species.
  2. ^ a b c Schmalfuss, H. (2008). "The terrestrial isopod genus Schizidium (Isopoda: Oniscidea): Systematics, distribution, morphology" (PDF). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, Neue Serie. 1: 143–151.
  3. ^ a b Omer-Cooper, J. (1923). "The terrestrial Isopoda of Mesopotamia and the surrounding districts". The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 29 (1): 97.
  4. ^ a b Verhoeff, K. W. (1901). "Über paläarktische Isopoden. (3. Aufsatz.)". Zoologischer Anzeiger (in German). 24 (634): 33–41.