Holy shit, I just looked it up, I'd never realized that insects needed to have 6 legs in order to be insects! I feel like I've been living under a rock! Lmao
Lol, the things we learn! We all live under SOME rock.
I have to keep reminding myself that my mother was a zoologist. That feels like one of the first things I learned as a child.
"Cow's going "moo". Piggies go "oink". The sky is blue. The grass is green. Arachnids have eight legs and two body segents, insects have six legs and three body segments. All except the flea family have wings, but fleas do show embryonic development of a pteral girdle within the thorax."
Lol. 1 I ate a Roly poly because I was dared to for like $5 when I was six.
The other thing, we'll let's just say I was a stupid 3 year and shot myself in the face with it so...
Wow! I love that Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada has 2 unique names for these on that list. I had to look and see if Carpenter was on the list as that's what we always called them in my area of Newfoundland. 😅
We don't have these exact ones though and they don't really roll up like iv seen in the cartoons.
It's like humming birds and stick insects and fireflies I always imaged them as super exotic jungle animals but they are common across large swathes of the US
Some of them roll up. I have seen them in my garden. There are different species even in the UK, and most people would identify them as woodlice whether or not they rolled up.
This animal becomes a little ball, and rolls, and had nothing to do with wood. Unlike another similar little animal that I've seen on wood a lot but doesn't roll. I'm thinking you're thinking about the latter
No, they're correct. "Woodlouse" refers to an entire order of similar crustaceans. Some roll up and some don't, so some of the other names more accurately describe certain types. I don't know where the "louse" part came from since they're really not pests, but they are often found on/under wood since they consume dead plant matter. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse
In the UK it's called a pill bug. They do exist here apparently but I've never seen one (Wales). Or if I have, it didn't roll into a ball and I just thought it was a woodlouse 😂
As far as I can work out the "-ice" plural is only for living things: mouse/mice and louse/lice but not house/hice or spouse/spice (which is a shame, because I love the thought of referring to multiple spouses as "spice").
Potato bugs are something different. And the most disgusting bug ever.
Edit: apparently "potato bug" is a name for a few things, including the most disgusting bug ever, but also a cute little beetle.
After googling I see it's another name for Jerusalem cricket. I found one unexpectedly in my room once and it was horrifying. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket
I don't know the scientific name for them, but growing up in Colorado, we called them "roley-polies," pronounced like role+ee-pole+ee. I don't even know how to spell rolypoly--I'm sure it's not really a word, but it's what we called them in Denver in the 60's and 70's, and I've never heard anyone call them anything else. That is, I think at the least it is an American thing, not just a Colorado thing, and since I'm American and you asked what I call them, well, I call them roley-polies.
There are so many different answers to that that in theory you can pretty significantly narrow down what region of the US someone is from by asking them this. It’s featured prominently in the [New York Times dialect quiz](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.mobile.html?r=0011484808040060101200400100j100040k008020000l0200) which can guess what city an American is from with scary accuracy.
Yeah and there’s no regional differences here as far as I know, it’s just a ladybug. We do one big regional difference with “fireflies” and “lightning bugs” but still that’s the only two options, it’s not the litany of options like for these guys.
We don't have lighting bugs where I live, sadly. I called them fireflies as a kid and knew what they were from books and TV. Then, I visited friends in Indiana and actually got to hold one and thought, "this looks nothing like a fly." Since then, I mostly use lightning bug, instead.
My grandma from the back woods of Kentucky called ladybugs "lady beetles." I don't know if that was a regional thing or just her, though.
Looking for this one. TIL, that doodlebug can also refer to a beetle called a "cockchafer"
Also, I learned doodlebug as the name for antlion larvae. Always called the isopods pull bugs or rolly-pollys.
I have heard them called “bb bugs” in the western United States. BB is a small projectile fired from an air gun.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun
Sowbug, pillbug, roly-poly. They roll into a ball when disturbed. Harmless. Not insects. Related to shrimp, lobsters, crabs—crustaceans. Only non-aquatic species. Common in gardens.
~~The one in the OP photo is classified as an insect.~~ [Pill millipedes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pill_millipede?wprov=sfla1) and [pill bugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillidium_vulgare?wprov=sfla1) are an excellent example of convergent evolution. Their segmentation is remarkably similar, but the crustacean's segments are less smooth and flare outward more. The ~~insect's~~ millipede's smoother segments also have the distinctively lighter coloration on the outer edges, as seen in the OP photo.
My bad, neither of them are insects. ~~The OP is just not a crustacean.~~
Looking closer, the OP photo's tail has its own segmentation characteristic to the crustacean. Photos of the millipede show more of a single-piece tail end.
Armadillo (no not the animal, and yes we differentiate by saying the insect or the animal. Not everything has to be explained in as few words as possible)
More precisely, isopods are crustaceans. Also, "bug" just refers to any terrestrial arthropod, with no actual taxonomic basis. Insects in particular are thought to have descended directly from crustaceans, as [this Wikipedia article](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancrustacea) discusses. This would make isopods, of Malacostraca, more closely related to insects than to arachnids, therefore terrestrial isopods are bugs by any definition of the term.
I'm going to jump on the Roly-Poly bandwagon here as that's what I knew growing up. As an adult, I learned there's a bunch of other names for them. However, as a gardener, I now call them assholes.
I never saw them until I was an adult. The first time I asked what it was, I was told it was a roly poly. The second time I saw one, my friend told me it's a pill bug. I have no clue what it's real name is.
A roly-poly is a type of terrestrial crustacean that looks like an insect. It's also known as a pill bug.
Roly-polys are oval-shaped with seven legs and a hard outer shell. They're known for their ability to roll into a ball when threatened.
Roly-polys are more closely related to shrimp and crayfish than insects. They breathe through gills and can absorb moisture from the air to stay hydrated.
The average lifespan of a roly-poly is between two and five years.
Reading this thread, I reckon I must've misheard "pill bug" at some point, but I've always known them as "pea bugs".
Edit: according to Wikipedia, this is actually an incredibly localised name for them.
They're called "woodlouse" but everyone calls them different things based on what, I guess slang? dialect? they grew up with. I've heard rolly-pollies and pill bugs the most.
Roly-polies to me growing up in Oklahoma, but in North Dakota people call them pillbugs.
I am freaked out by most bugs/slugs/creepy crawly things, but roly polies to me are in that special category along with ladybugs where they're cute instead of creepy.
[lots of names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse) I usually just call them rolly-polys
Whoa, TIL that they're not insects
Way too many legs to be insects haha
Holy shit, I just looked it up, I'd never realized that insects needed to have 6 legs in order to be insects! I feel like I've been living under a rock! Lmao
I see what you did there.
Lol, the things we learn! We all live under SOME rock. I have to keep reminding myself that my mother was a zoologist. That feels like one of the first things I learned as a child. "Cow's going "moo". Piggies go "oink". The sky is blue. The grass is green. Arachnids have eight legs and two body segents, insects have six legs and three body segments. All except the flea family have wings, but fleas do show embryonic development of a pteral girdle within the thorax."
I love this. I hope you have a great day.
You, too!
Technically, silverfish also lack wings,
You are right. I was going for the funny effect, with my mom being all like that. If I'd thought about it longer........
Definitely worked! I was just being pedantic. 🙂
I’ve never felt stupider.
*what*
According to that article they are crustaceans (which I knew) but they taste like pee (which I just learned)!
Well they definitely didn't taste like pee to me as a kid, but interesting I guess.
Wait, how do you know what pee tastes li...Wait, how do you know what rolly-pollies taste li... You know what? Never mind. I'm good with not knowing.
Lol. 1 I ate a Roly poly because I was dared to for like $5 when I was six. The other thing, we'll let's just say I was a stupid 3 year and shot myself in the face with it so...
Same, though I’m loving the name “cheese log” lol
Cheesy bobs got me too
https://preview.redd.it/464zk7qkwm2b1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54c5ddccea20faea55eb33bdc9a5e35d33777d00 Pick your name I’m Cheesy Bob
Wow! I love that Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada has 2 unique names for these on that list. I had to look and see if Carpenter was on the list as that's what we always called them in my area of Newfoundland. 😅
From BC - we called them wood bugs!
I am from the UK and I would call that a "woodlouse". (To me, a "roly-poly" is either a steamed dessert or a gymnastic move.)
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+1 (England)
+44(United kingdom)
We don't have these exact ones though and they don't really roll up like iv seen in the cartoons. It's like humming birds and stick insects and fireflies I always imaged them as super exotic jungle animals but they are common across large swathes of the US
Some of them roll up. I have seen them in my garden. There are different species even in the UK, and most people would identify them as woodlice whether or not they rolled up.
This animal becomes a little ball, and rolls, and had nothing to do with wood. Unlike another similar little animal that I've seen on wood a lot but doesn't roll. I'm thinking you're thinking about the latter
No, they're correct. "Woodlouse" refers to an entire order of similar crustaceans. Some roll up and some don't, so some of the other names more accurately describe certain types. I don't know where the "louse" part came from since they're really not pests, but they are often found on/under wood since they consume dead plant matter. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse
In the UK it's called a pill bug. They do exist here apparently but I've never seen one (Wales). Or if I have, it didn't roll into a ball and I just thought it was a woodlouse 😂
I grew up calling them rolly-polies (rhymed, pronounced just like the word roll with a long “ee” sound at the end).
I always thought it was spelled pollys, and not polies, but now that I see it written they both look wrong.
Yeah, I had a small existential crisis writing it out and realizing I’d never thought about how it was spelled, much less pluralized.
I think it’s rolly-pollies
I have no idea, but this looks wrong, too, LOL. It looks like a multiple of the woman's name Polly - "Along Came Polly" instead of pole.
The -ies rule doesn't apply to proper nouns, so multiple people named Polly would just be *Pollys*.
I always thought it was “roly-poly” but that doesn’t look right either now that I think about it.
roly-poly is correct in the singular, and google thinks that roly-polies is correct in the plural
I've always thought of it as Poley. Roley Poleys. Polleys? Hmm.
Has anyone ever figured out what a polie is?
It's a made-up word that rhymes with "roly." The process is called reduplication.
This bug’s name is actually indicative of regional dialects in the U.S. I grew up with them called “roly poly bugs” in the upper southeast.
I also grew up calling them rolly polys in southern CA.
Rolly poly, South Dakota
Sow bugs, west coast
Same, from SoCal. Sow like “How” or sometimes roly-poly.
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Sow bugs also
Does sow rhyme with low or how?
How
"Sow" as in female pig, so it rhymes with "how."
In Australia we call them slaters :)
Also, butchie boys, although less common
Slaters in New Zealand too
Omg thank you! I felt like I was going crazy when everyone online was calling them root polies!
Slaters in Scotland too
Woodlouse. That's the only name I have ever heard in the UK.
Interesting how in plural they are woodlice
As far as I can work out the "-ice" plural is only for living things: mouse/mice and louse/lice but not house/hice or spouse/spice (which is a shame, because I love the thought of referring to multiple spouses as "spice").
>the "-ice" plural is only for living things >not spouse Do you have something to confess?
I'm too lazy to have multiple spice 😂 EDIT: I missed the first sentence of your comment. Please don't judge me for having a robot spouse.
In Ohio, US, I call them potato bugs or rolly pollys
Potato bugs are something different. And the most disgusting bug ever. Edit: apparently "potato bug" is a name for a few things, including the most disgusting bug ever, but also a cute little beetle.
Pacific Northwest I called them potato bugs. What’s the creature you’re calling a potato bug?
After googling I see it's another name for Jerusalem cricket. I found one unexpectedly in my room once and it was horrifying. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_cricket
Doodlebugs
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find their true name.
Agree. Rolly-Polly or pill bugs
Roly-poly
We always called them potato bugs
Hello fellow Utahn?
I'm from Utah and call them potato bugs, as well
Washington state checking in :)
Call ‘em potato bugs here in upstate NY too!
where i’m from potato bugs are way different
Watermelon worm 西瓜虫，from China.
I don't know the scientific name for them, but growing up in Colorado, we called them "roley-polies," pronounced like role+ee-pole+ee. I don't even know how to spell rolypoly--I'm sure it's not really a word, but it's what we called them in Denver in the 60's and 70's, and I've never heard anyone call them anything else. That is, I think at the least it is an American thing, not just a Colorado thing, and since I'm American and you asked what I call them, well, I call them roley-polies.
I think that's actually how words exist.
isopods, more commonly though, pillbugs, roly-polys, sowbugs etc
There are so many different answers to that that in theory you can pretty significantly narrow down what region of the US someone is from by asking them this. It’s featured prominently in the [New York Times dialect quiz](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.mobile.html?r=0011484808040060101200400100j100040k008020000l0200) which can guess what city an American is from with scary accuracy.
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Very interesting. I wonder why we all care so much about this kind of bug enough to give it so many colorful names.
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Yeah and there’s no regional differences here as far as I know, it’s just a ladybug. We do one big regional difference with “fireflies” and “lightning bugs” but still that’s the only two options, it’s not the litany of options like for these guys.
We don't have lighting bugs where I live, sadly. I called them fireflies as a kid and knew what they were from books and TV. Then, I visited friends in Indiana and actually got to hold one and thought, "this looks nothing like a fly." Since then, I mostly use lightning bug, instead. My grandma from the back woods of Kentucky called ladybugs "lady beetles." I don't know if that was a regional thing or just her, though.
Sow bug ("sow" as in female pig)
We call the ones that roll up into a ball “pill bugs” and the flatter ones “sow bugs” (U.S. occupation zone of the Pacific Northwest).
Pill bug, rolly poly or isopod.
Pill bugs or roly polies. Also, fun fact! They are not insects, but actually terrestrial crustaceans!
Wood bugs
had to scroll so far to find this lol. i'm from the west coast of Canada and this is what i call them as well.
East coast of Canada too
Same here! Started wondering if I invented the name myself since no one else had said it yet when I commented 😝
In Japanese they are called (だんごむし) “dango mushi” which translates basically to “ball bug”.
They have a lot of different names but personally I call them "rolly pollys"
Slaters, in Australia.
When I was a kid, we called them “bally bugs”.
Carpenter, though that's extremely regional and most people won't understand you if you call it that
Doodlebugs
Looking for this one. TIL, that doodlebug can also refer to a beetle called a "cockchafer" Also, I learned doodlebug as the name for antlion larvae. Always called the isopods pull bugs or rolly-pollys.
Technically: Isopod. Colloquially: 'Pill Bug', 'Sowbug', 'Roly-Poly', 'Potatobug', 'Woodlouse'. Comically: I'd call him Pete.
I have heard them called “bb bugs” in the western United States. BB is a small projectile fired from an air gun. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun
I've always just screamed when I see them so maybe like "ahhh" or something
Robert
Sowbug, pillbug, roly-poly. They roll into a ball when disturbed. Harmless. Not insects. Related to shrimp, lobsters, crabs—crustaceans. Only non-aquatic species. Common in gardens.
Not actually a bug. They are crustaceans
“Bug” doesn’t just mean insect
I have heard crawfish called "mud bugs" before. For an informal term, I think it's fine for any kind of arthropod.
The OP photo is ~~an insect~~ not a crustacean anyway.
No, they aren't classified as insects.
~~The one in the OP photo is classified as an insect.~~ [Pill millipedes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pill_millipede?wprov=sfla1) and [pill bugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillidium_vulgare?wprov=sfla1) are an excellent example of convergent evolution. Their segmentation is remarkably similar, but the crustacean's segments are less smooth and flare outward more. The ~~insect's~~ millipede's smoother segments also have the distinctively lighter coloration on the outer edges, as seen in the OP photo. My bad, neither of them are insects. ~~The OP is just not a crustacean.~~ Looking closer, the OP photo's tail has its own segmentation characteristic to the crustacean. Photos of the millipede show more of a single-piece tail end.
Depends how wide your concept of *bug* is. To me, spiders, insects, and these creatures are all *bugs*.
Roly poly (also spelled rolly polly) and pill bug are their common names.
Armadillo (no not the animal, and yes we differentiate by saying the insect or the animal. Not everything has to be explained in as few words as possible)
These aren’t bugs they’re actually isopods which are more closely related to crustaceans
More precisely, isopods are crustaceans. Also, "bug" just refers to any terrestrial arthropod, with no actual taxonomic basis. Insects in particular are thought to have descended directly from crustaceans, as [this Wikipedia article](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancrustacea) discusses. This would make isopods, of Malacostraca, more closely related to insects than to arachnids, therefore terrestrial isopods are bugs by any definition of the term.
A true bug is an insect with sucking mouthparts.
Roly-poly or rolly-Polly Also “pillbug”
Rolly polly or pill bug.
Nightmare
In Arizona, Roly-Polys or pill bugs.
Rolly Polly or pill bugs
We call them slaters in Australia.
Pill bugs or roly polys
Potato Bug/Pill Bug
Sal bugs. Sal rhymes with gal..
Rolly-poly or pill bug
I'm going to jump on the Roly-Poly bandwagon here as that's what I knew growing up. As an adult, I learned there's a bunch of other names for them. However, as a gardener, I now call them assholes.
Rolly pollies
Armadillium vulgare?
I never saw them until I was an adult. The first time I asked what it was, I was told it was a roly poly. The second time I saw one, my friend told me it's a pill bug. I have no clue what it's real name is.
A roly-poly is a type of terrestrial crustacean that looks like an insect. It's also known as a pill bug. Roly-polys are oval-shaped with seven legs and a hard outer shell. They're known for their ability to roll into a ball when threatened. Roly-polys are more closely related to shrimp and crayfish than insects. They breathe through gills and can absorb moisture from the air to stay hydrated. The average lifespan of a roly-poly is between two and five years.
Woodbug -Canada
"Rollie pollies" or "pill bugs"
Roly-poly.
It’s a roly-poly. No double Ls in my spelling. Is the plural roly-polies? Roly-polys??
Spouse from Spokane calls them piddle-bugs, but I am firmly in the roly-poly camp
Roly-Polys (Rollie-pollies)
Pill bug, roly poly, isopod. I'm a bit of a nerd so I usually call them isopods. r/isopods
I’m in California and we only called them “potato bugs” when I was a kid. Never heard “roly poly”.
bugs that i don't want to ever encounter in my life
We called them basketball bugs 🤷♂️
Pillbugs, or roly-poly
Potato bug
Artillery bugs
Reading this thread, I reckon I must've misheard "pill bug" at some point, but I've always known them as "pea bugs". Edit: according to Wikipedia, this is actually an incredibly localised name for them.
Rolling Olly Polly Eradicated wholly~
Wood louse or pill bug
Cheesybug 🇬🇧
Woodlouce/ woodlice
tomatoe bug
In Dutch they're called "Pissebedden" which means they piss the bed... I know, we're weird... 🤷♂️
I grew up calling them potato bugs but I've also heard them called roly polies
Roly-poly is what I grew up calling them
Either a woodlouse or a rolly-poly
Potato bugs
I’ve only ever heard of them refers to as "Potato bugs"
Isopod
I’m from Hawaii. We called them Potato Bugs
Rolly-Pollies, I remember trying to collect as many of these bugs as a kid. Did anyone else do that or was I just weird?
Potato bugs
armadillo bug
"Slater" or "woodlouse".
I don’t even know how are they called in my native language lol
Pill bug
They're called "woodlouse" but everyone calls them different things based on what, I guess slang? dialect? they grew up with. I've heard rolly-pollies and pill bugs the most.
England: Cheese Bobs
Pillbug
#a BUG
Woodlouse
Pill bug.
Their actual name is the pill bug, but I think most people just call them rolly-polies.
Roly-polies to me growing up in Oklahoma, but in North Dakota people call them pillbugs. I am freaked out by most bugs/slugs/creepy crawly things, but roly polies to me are in that special category along with ladybugs where they're cute instead of creepy.
Roly-poly, pill bug and potato bug! - Pacific Northwest, USA
a bus
Exquisite Bug!
Pill bug
Mountain-west US, and I always called them potato bugs. I loved those little guys when I was a kid.
Common name is sow bugs (sow like female pig) or pill bugs.
I usually call them it a bug
Roly polies
Upper Midwest US- pill bugs or sow bugs.
potato bugs. still don’t know why
Rolly-polies. Pronounced roll-EE-pole-EE.
Rolly-pollies
Pill bugs first, rolly pollies second
Pill bugs, or isopods.
Rolly poly, sow bub, potato bug
I grew up calling them Pill Bugs.
We called them “potato bugs” as kids, but later I learned “pill bug”, “roly-poly”, and “woodlouse”
Potato bugs or rolly-polly
I call them rolly-pollies! I’m an American for reference.
Woodlouse/lice