Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Slaters reproduce
sexually, during warm spring and summer seasons. The male will insert sperm using their copulatory organ which is a modification of their abdominal legs. This species is polyandrous – females mate with many males, and their broods (sacks of eggs) have been shown to have greater than 80% multiple paternity.
A female slater may have 1 to 3 broods per year, with approximately 12-36 offspring per brood. Females may survive long enough to breed in multiple seasons, however many do not. Reproduction typically occurs when the days lengthen and temperatures rise during spring and summer, and females have been noted to be gravid for an average of 35 days. Males and females can be distinguished by their sixth molt, and reach full sexual maturity within 14-22 months after hatching.
The males are not involved in the parental process after mating. Females carry their eggs and manacae (post larval) in a fluid filled breeding pouch to ensure they do not dry out. Once the manacae have been released, there is no further parental involvement.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Isopoda
Suborder: Oniscoidea
Family: Porcellionidae
Genus: Porcellio
Species:scaber
Scientific name: Porcellio scaber
Common Names: Wood lice (plural), wood louse, slater,
Common rough woodlice are ectothermic and have flat, elliptical-shaped bodies that are heavily plated and typically grey or deep blue, though orange and albino specimens have also been seen. They can grow up to 17 mm in length and their bodies are segmented and bilaterally symmetrical. They have seven body segements, each with a pair of legs, and their bodies are divided into three sections: head, pereion (thorax), and pleon (abdomen), and their heads are divided into three lobes. Their two pleopodia (appendages under their pleons), have pseudotrachia, allowing for respiration through their pseudolungs. These pseudolungs appear as white patches on the abdomen, and they are unable to be closed to prevent water loss.
Weight varies depending on water content, which can fluctuate greatly. These isopods have a warty body surface with two short tails (uropodia) on their final body segments (telsons). They have compound eyes and two pairs of antennae, a shorter pair which are thought to act as chemoreceptors (detects chemicals in environment) and a longer pair which have sensory hair-like structures (setae). The antennae are often orange in colour at their bases.
Slaters can not roll into a ball for defense as many closely related species can. This species is sexually dimorphic, with females (and juveniles) mottled and lighter in color. Females have a brood pouch in which they carry developing young, while males have a genital projection located near their pleopodia.
http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-insects/wood-lice.html
Porcellio scaber show a kinesis type responses to humidity. They show both an increased speed of movement (orthokinesis) and increased rate of turning (klinokinesis) in dry conditions and slower rates of movement in more humid conditions. This response will result in them accumulating in more humid regions.
These responses mean that the animals will spend more time in humid conditions and so will not loose water from their bodies.
For example, in forest ecosystems, they have been observed in the upper parts of decidious trees during summer months and in mossy areas around the bases of trees during autumn months
These woodlice are most active at night (nocturnal) and their activity levels are correlated with wind speed; increased wind speeds (and, so, evaporation rates) lead to lower levels of activity. They exhibit negative phototaxis, moving away from lighter (likely warmer and drier) conditions to darker ones, and they speed up their movements when environmental conditions are outside of an optimal range.
This species exhibits thigmokinesis, which means that their movement is reduced when in contact with other objects.
This behaviour results in woodlice forming groups or clumps and also means they will tend to congregate in cracks and crevices. They will have better protection from desiccation and also predators.
Slaters have a number of natural predators. These include spiders (including the Dysdera crocata – known as woodlouse hunters – which feed exclusively on them), small mammals like shrews, birds, harvestmen, centipedes, and ground beetles. The slater protects itself from predation by hiding under wood, rocks, leaves and other detritus. They are heavily plated and excrete nitrogenous waste in the form of ammonia gas instead of urine, this helps to ward of would-be predators.
Melanophora Roralis are parasitic flies that lay eggs on common rough woodlice, killing their hosts during their pupation. Other parasites include spiny headed worms and nematodes. Porcellio Scabers also host intracellular parasitic bacteria in their guts.
Scabers are detritivores that help with the degradation of organic matter, such as decaying leaves and wood. In its native regions, this works to quickly return nutrients to the soil. In some areas with a slower degradation process, introduced scabers significantly affect indigenous flora and fauna.
Because they do not have a waxy cuticle covering their exoskeletons, slaters prefer moist, dark areas where it is possible to avoid drying out. They live under leaf litter, rocks, and fallen logs in forests, meadows, and gardens, and are frequently found in splash zones, dunes and salt marshes. Although they are most often found in leaf litter, they are often found on tree bark as well, particularly during the summer.
Habitat Regions : temperate, terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune savanna or grassland forest
Wetlands marsh
Other Habitat Features: urban agricultural
The porcellio scaber prefers mild temperatures.
Many of the behavioural responses of scabers are concerned with water conservation and the need to avoid desiccation. Most woodlice are terrestrial, however they lack some of the structures found in other terrestrial arthropods such as insects and spiders.
They have a relatively high surface area to volume ratio and are therefore likely to loose water by diffusion more quickly than many other species. They also lack a waxy, waterproof cuticle and so water will readily diffuse through their exoskeleton more rapidly than in other arthropods.
They will therefore relocate based on whether they currently need more or less water in their systems.
Slaters are detritivorous, saprophagous (including carrion), mycophagous, and coprophagous. They prefer decaying organic matter because of the higher population of microbes within this material. Slaters also consume their own feces in order to increase copper stores (necessary as their blood contains haemocyanin) and to retain bacteria that are able to break down nutrients that are not easily absorbed otherwise. These bacteria are a significant part of their diets. These woodlice also have endosymbiotic bacteria (Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia porcellionis) living in the hepatopancreas, which help with cellulose digestion.
Definitions:
detritivorous : obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces)
saprophagous : feeding on or obtaining nourishment from decaying organic matter
mycophagous : consuming fungi
coprophagous : consume and redigest the feces of large animals
haemocyanin : an excellent example of molecular convergence in respiratory proteins, although the same applies to haemoglobin, myoglobin and haemerythrin, all based on iron rather than copper
Resources:
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Porcellio_scaber/
http://soilbugs.massey.ac.nz/isopoda.php
http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-insects/wood-lice.html
http://www.porcellio.scaber.org/woodlice/habitat.htm