I grew up with spherical ones, in the East bay, but here I am about eighty miles away and we have the kind that roll only partway (really most of the way, but not tight in a true ball). Also I grew up calling them sowbugs (which sounds like a good name for the kind that roll partway), but hereabouts people mostly call them roly-polies (which sounds like a good name for the kind that makes a true sphere).
I'm a bit shocked to learn they're all European transplants. Also, they annoy me sometimes nowadays because they are so numerous and they positively infest certain parts of the garden. Where I grew up there were fewer of them. It was more inland and drier in the summer, I wonder if that's why, or if the less spherical ones are more gregarious by nature?
no subject
I grew up with spherical ones, in the East bay, but here I am about eighty miles away and we have the kind that roll only partway (really most of the way, but not tight in a true ball). Also I grew up calling them sowbugs (which sounds like a good name for the kind that roll partway), but hereabouts people mostly call them roly-polies (which sounds like a good name for the kind that makes a true sphere).
I'm a bit shocked to learn they're all European transplants. Also, they annoy me sometimes nowadays because they are so numerous and they positively infest certain parts of the garden. Where I grew up there were fewer of them. It was more inland and drier in the summer, I wonder if that's why, or if the less spherical ones are more gregarious by nature?
so many questions for the little isopods!