Armadillidium Vulgare

Armadillidium vulgare is a crustacean who has ventured out from under the deep blue sea to explore and conquer life on land.  Retaining his gills from his days as a sea-fairing soul, he now likes to live in damp dark places and can most often be found under rocks or in mulch or other such moist places. 

These are a family creature, each child mating and making its home only 10 to 100 meters from its parents where they will live out their whopping two to three year life span.

But their most defining feature, and surely what makes them the object of so much attention at my house, is their unique response to stimulus.  While many of us would like to curl up in a tiny ball whenever we are unduly dealt with, this little guy actually can and does almost perfectly symmetrically.

Of course, the creature I am profiling is the winner of our poll, the Potato Bug (insert fanfare)!!  Yes, hands down, the Potato Bug was the winner of our poll with Roly Poly coming in an easy second to the Pill Bug which was a pathetic third. 

Jared claims Potato Bug won because I have many of my dear Washington friends chiming in and the usage of these terms is regional.  Of course when I stated that I have talked to many a native Utahan who prefers the term Potato Bug, he had to go dig up this very interesting map that shows the regional usage of each term (green is Potato Bug, purple is Roly Poly).  And, low and behold, the term Roly Poly is actually far more widespread, though both terms are used in the Northwest, and in Utah.  But, luckily for me, we didn't poll the entire US, just the fabulous people who read our blog.

Sadly, because Roly Poly is the predominate term used here in my small world , and because every time we are outside I can hear Henry scream with glee, "Ooahh!!  A Roly Poly!!" I have to now call it a Roly Poly, but, it will always be a Potato Bug to me, and gladly, to most of you.