Mokritsy: close-up photo, size and how do domestic, small, large and giant species of insect look like, how many legs do they have, which of the creatures live in the apartment?

In private homes or apartments you can see an insect, which is rather unpleasant in appearance. It appears at night in the bathroom or in the bathroom. Sometimes it can be found in the kitchen under the sink. This insect loves moisture and appears where there is a lot of it.

Due to this property, it is called - wood lice. Her appearance in an apartment or in a residential building necessarily indicates an excess of dampness in the room. The attitude to these creatures is ambiguous. According to popular belief, they are harmful to humans.

However, in nature, wood lice have significant benefits. It contributes to the improvement of soil by processing decaying plants. At the same time, it releases a substance into the soil, which improves its qualitative composition. In addition, woodlice eat fungi on the leaves of plants and in the ground. This leads to the improvement of their habitat. Not all species of wood lice are settled in human housing. From our article you can find out what kind of insect it is, how many legs it has and look at its photo.

What domestic species of this crustacean are found in the apartment?

Woodlice belongs to the crustacean genus.. The presence of gills indicates its belonging to it. Some species live exclusively in water, like all crustaceans. In addition, she has several movable and tenacious legs, which gives her the opportunity to run on the walls.

In the world there are more than 3,000 species of these insects, but in our country there are about ten. In his home, a person may encounter two types of wood lice - ordinary (also called armadillo) and rough. Most often, they crawl into the apartment from the basement (a description of the most common types of wood lice can be found in this material).

Since wood louse loves damp, it feels better on the street. There they can be found under the stones, from the dark and damp areas of the courtyard or garden. In order not to confuse it with other insects, you need to know the external signs of wood lice.

More information on the lifestyle of wood lice and their varieties can be found here.

Body size

Domestic species have small body sizes and can reach up to 2 cm in length. They have no long legs. There are species that reach up to 75 cm in length. These crustaceans live at great depths in the seas and in the ocean. They have much in common with ordinary wood lice, but differ in large size and habitat.

Detailed description and close-up photo

We offer to see how a wood louse looks in a photo:

The structure of wood lice is reminiscent of the structure of other crustaceans. All species have a peculiar cover in the form of a shell. This distinguishes them from insects. The body itself is oval, slightly elongated. It is covered with hard and hard chitinous flaps, which form 9-10 segments. This structure protects the body of the woodlice from damage and predators. The color of the shell depends on the species and habitat.

The most common ones have a nondescript gray color, which disguises them as the color of stones or soil. Some may be lighter in color or with a greenish tint. In nature, wood lice are found with a colored pattern or stripes on the shell.

The color of the carapace depends on the habitat temperature.. There are species with pink, yellow, blue and brown shades of shell. The legs of wood lice are arranged in pairs. In each segment of the body is one pair of legs. In total, she has 7 pairs of legs, unlike cancers, which have 5 pairs of walking legs.

Mokritsa is a true all-terrain vehicle. She is able to quickly move on land. Basically, this happens at night. The purpose of her movement is the search for moisture and food. All 7 pairs of legs have the same structure and are very mobile. They are equally long, due to which wood lice are called isopods - isopods.

The body of the wood louse under the shell is vulnerable and flexible. In case of danger, the wood louse is curled into a ball, leaving the carapace outside. The insect head is clearly visible on the oval body.

It consists of three parts and is practically inseparable from the body. On her sides are eyes and two antennae. Mustache is a kind of antenna. Their length reaches half the length of the body of the insect. On the 3rd, 4th and 5th segments of the abdomen there are long processes that are directed back.

What species live in nature and what do such creatures look like?

Small

Ordinary land wood lice, whose size is not more than 2 cm, live everywhere. These individuals are found even in countries with arid climates. The ability to adapt to different conditions allows them to survive both in drought conditions and in the cold conditions of the north.

Woodlice can breed quickly and populate the territory. External signs of this category of wood lice are consistent with those described above in this article. Their color depends on the habitat and the ambient temperature - from gray to yellow and pink.

This view is very mobile and moves quickly in any direction. The small size of the body allows the wood louse to quickly find refuge and be invisible to enemies. Small crustaceans have marine relatives that differ in size from them.

Large

This species of wood lice lives in the depths of the sea and differs from land relatives in body size. One of the representatives of this group is the linguistic wood lice parasite. Its size can reach 4 cm. Another species of marine wood lice is a sea cockroach. Its size reaches 10 cm.

Both species are found in the depths of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. The largest specimen from the category of large wood lice reaches 15 cm in length.

Externally, these species do not differ from terrestrial counterparts. The same shell-like shields cover the body, forming an exoskeleton. In addition, their chitinous shell contains lime. The exoskeleton consists of overlapping segments.

Woodlice are able to curl up when in danger, exposing a hard shell. This protective reaction saves them from predators. The back shields of the shell are fused and elongated. They form a kind of flat short tail. Such a device is necessary so that the wood louse can stay on the water.

The head of a large wood lice almost merges with the shell. Large eyes are visible on it, which have a complex structure. Oddly enough, but underwater crustaceans have good eyesight. Same, there are two pairs of antennae on the head. Wood lice also have 7 pairs of legs. However, the first pair consists of claws similar to claws, with the help of which the woodworm captures food and transfers it to the other four jaws in the mouth.

The mouth is located on the head and directed forward to quickly grab food. The color of marine wood lice is light brown, sometimes with a pink tint. They move well in the water with the help of swimming abdominal legs.

Giant

This is a species of marine life from the genus crustaceans. However, their sizes reach above 50 cm. The largest individual caught off the coast of North America had a size of 76 cm and a weight of 1700 grams. Giants outwardly do not differ from the previous species.

The body of insects is covered with a completely solid exoskeleton.that ends with a long wide tail. On the legs there are tenacious claws that allow them to move along the clay bottom.

They live at a depth above 140 meters. The main food for them is carrion of fish and marine plants. Therefore, they are considered as orderlies of the deep sea. For prey, sea lice have to go down to a depth of 2000 meters.

Are there similar creatures in nature and who are they?

Wood lice are often confused with some insects. Not very similar to them are silverfish, nodules and millipedes. However, the differences between them are not difficult. Silverfish differs from woodlice in the form of a long and narrowed to the end of the body.

It has short antennae and exoskeleton segments are not so pronounced as in woodlice. Kivsyaki live in the warm southern regions of Russia in moist basements. They have a long body of more than 30 segments and are more like worms. Millipedes love dampness and quickly run around walls. They differ from woodlice by a large number of long legs and a narrow gray-brown elongated body.

Our world is populated by many different insects. Knowledge of the essence of those who run and crawl in apartments and houses next to a person give a clear idea of these creatures. This article was considered one of the frequent guests of the human home. Perhaps this information will help to understand the causes of the appearance and false fears related to wood lice.