Pill bugs, sand lice

Code OR189999

Flattened, pill-bug shaped isopods in which the thorax broadens slightly toward the posterior. The abdomen consists of just 1-2 narrow, free segments partly hidden under the last thoracic segment dorsally, and the telson is large and round. The uropods are leg-like and project backward, are not flattened and do not form a tail fan. Each uropod consists of two long, cylindrical rami on a cylindrical protopodite.

Janiridae occur in freshwater streams, pools and lakes.

References:

Horwitz, P., Knott, B. and Williams, W.D. (1995) A Preliminary Key to the Malacostracan Families (Crustacea) found in Australian Inland Waters . Co-operative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology Identification Guide No. 4., Albury, NSW.

Williams, W.D. (1980) Australian Freshwater Life: The Invertebrates of Australian Inland Waters. The Macmillan Company of Australia, Melbourne.

Wilson, G. D. ('Buz'). 1999. Preliminary phylogeny of the Phreatoicidea. Webpage at