# What do you call this insect?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 25, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885 "2013-06-25T16:59:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/1 "2013-06-25T16:59:39Z")
One of [these guys](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Armidillidium.vs.glomeris.jpg) (WARNING: close-up picture of insects, if you dislike that sort of thing), but your local variety may vary depending on where you are in the world.
You know, the little dark gray oval guys that roll up into a ball when you mess with them.
These are generally recognized as “woodlice” but there are hundreds of different species, and almost everyone has a different name for them; what do _you_ call them?
A poll _may_ be forthcoming.
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### Author:  [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/2 "2013-06-25T17:02:19Z")
I call them terrestrial isopods.
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### Author:  [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/3 "2013-06-25T17:03:40Z")
They are not insects.
I used to call them pill bugs, but now I like calling them roly-polies because I think it’s a cute name. I don’t think the bugs are that cute. I just like that name. 😛
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/4 "2013-06-25T17:04:27Z")
Pill bugs and sow bugs are the names I have heard for them. I’m in the USA.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/5 "2013-06-25T17:06:22Z")
Potato bug or roly-poly.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/6 "2013-06-25T17:07:15Z")
> [@EmilyG](#):
>
> They are not insects.
I know, it’s just the simplest description that everyone will understand.
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### Author:  [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/7 "2013-06-25T17:10:11Z")
Pill bug or potato bug.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/8 "2013-06-25T17:11:08Z")
Roly-poly. I am from Louisiana and that is all we ever called them.
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### Author:  [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/9 "2013-06-25T17:11:27Z")
Rollie-pollies of course! That’s the only name cute enough for them! I love those little guys so much. They’re so darn adorable.
Edit: And no. They’re not potato bugs. Potato bugs are monstrosities of nature that should be eradicated from this planet. [Click](http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/7YHxIlKlWfc/hqdefault.jpg) at your own risk.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/10 "2013-06-25T17:12:04Z")
> [@EmilyG](#):
>
> They are not insects. . . .
Well, [yeah, they are.](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insect). I know what you mean, but usage frequently varies from phylogeny.
When I was a kid, I thought they were millipedes. I think the first thing I ever read about them they were called ‘pill bugs.’ It was a surprise when I found out as an adult they were crustaceans.
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### Author:  [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/11 "2013-06-25T17:13:52Z")
Ontario, Canada and I’ve always called them potato bugs.
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### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/12 "2013-06-25T17:16:58Z")
I’ve only ever called them (or heard them called) woodlice.
I am aware that there are regional names for them here in the UK, but I’ve never actually heard these names used.
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### Author:  [@Carybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carybear)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/13 "2013-06-25T17:17:43Z")
Dillo Beetles.
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### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/14 "2013-06-25T17:18:37Z")
> [@angelsoft](#):
>
> rollie-pollies of course! That’s the only name cute enough for them! I love those little guys so much. They’re so darn adorable.
>
> Edit: And no. They’re not potato bugs. Potato bugs are monstrosities of nature that should be eradicated from this planet. [click](http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/7yhxilklwfc/hqdefault.jpg) at your own risk.
holysweetmotherofcrapwhydidiclickthatlink!!!
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/15 "2013-06-25T17:40:34Z")
I called them pill bugs, and called _something else_ wood lice/louse, though I’m guessing they’re related.
[This is what I called wood lice.](http://i.imgur.com/xGIob3I.jpg) Like a pill bug/rolly polly but “flat” and I don’t recall ever seeing it really “roll up.”
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/16 "2013-06-25T17:49:17Z")
More than one name, but ones that do appear on your list: Roly-poly or pill bug. I grew up in the South, Midwest, and Northeast, so there could be more than one regional influence at work.
Edit: and a doodle-bug is an [ant lion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_lion), is it not?
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/17 "2013-06-25T17:57:18Z")
> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> Edit: and a doodle-bug is an [ant lion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_lion), is it not?
I dunno. I made the list from some of the first responses here and whatever I found in the first few Google results. Many of those are what [Mental Floss](http://mentalfloss.com/article/50835/20-regional-names-woodlice) says people in England, Canada, and Australia call them, and I can only take their word for it.
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/18 "2013-06-25T18:25:34Z")
The only names I’ve ever heard for them are pill bug and roly-poly.
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/19 "2013-06-25T18:30:16Z")
Roly-poly or pill-bug
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-this-insect/661885/20 "2013-06-25T18:38:15Z")
Totally a cheeselog.
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