# What the heck is the real name for roly poly's?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 29, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019 "2005-09-29T14:25:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/1 "2005-09-29T14:25:54Z")
Y’know, the bug that curls up into a ball if you touch them?
I’ve come up with zip in google except sandwich wraps and a cartoon character.
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### Author:  [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/2 "2005-09-29T14:31:22Z")
They’re [isopods](http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Isopoda&contgroup=Peracarida). Often _Armadillidium vulgare_ here in California (not sure about where you are, but might be the same genus at least).
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/3 "2005-09-29T14:32:31Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#):
>
> Y’know, the bug that curls up into a ball if you touch them?
>
> I’ve come up with zip in google except sandwich wraps and a cartoon character.
We always called them potato bugs, but a quick google shows that we were wrong…
Sorry, I’m not help.
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### Author:  [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/4 "2005-09-29T14:33:20Z")
OO! One I can answer!
It’s a [Pill Bug](http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/invertebrates/isopod/Pillbugprintout.shtml).
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/5 "2005-09-29T14:33:36Z")
They are called pillbugs or sowbugs, but they are actually crustaceans – not “bugs” at all. (Bugs are a specific type of insects.)
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/6 "2005-09-29T14:33:56Z")
Looks like it would be a pillbug:
[http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2072.html](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2072.html)
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### Author:  [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/7 "2005-09-29T14:34:25Z")
Google Woodlice 🙂
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/8 "2005-09-29T14:35:41Z")
> [@wevets](#):
>
> They’re [isopods](http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Isopoda&contgroup=Peracarida). Often _Armadillidium vulgare_ here in California (not sure about where you are, but might be the same genus at least).
Close…ours have a hard outer shell. (Still, the CA ones are creapy to look at!)
Yes, the offical name -which I never heard of - is The Pillbug. Huh.
Now I need to find out how to get rid of them for friends.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/9 "2005-09-29T14:37:11Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#):
>
> Looks like it would be a pillbug:
> [http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2072.html](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2072.html)
I love how your link says “Some may crawl into swimming pools and drown, causing complaints.”
PILLBUG FAMILY, SUING HUMAN FAMILY: “You should have put a fence up around your pool, or a gate with a lock. Our children have drowned, and it’s your fault. We’ll see you in court!”
OK, maybe only I find that amusing.
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### Author:  [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/10 "2005-09-29T14:37:38Z")
Or slaters, or wood lice…
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/11 "2005-09-29T14:39:37Z")
Yes, technically they are terrestrial isopods, a kind of crustacean. Many other kinds of isopods live in freshwater and in the sea.
They have many different common names, the most common being pillbugs, sowbugs, or woodlice (although the latter mostly is applied to kinds that don’t roll up completely).
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### Author:  [@Dolukhanova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dolukhanova)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/12 "2005-09-29T15:13:32Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Yes, technically they are terrestrial isopods, a kind of crustacean. Many other kinds of isopods live in freshwater and in the sea.
>
> They have many different common names, the most common being pillbugs, sowbugs, or woodlice (although the latter mostly is applied to kinds that don’t roll up completely).
Has anyone else heard of them being called doodlebugs? I googled “doodlebug” the other day (don’t ask), and the term seems to be most commonly applied to a different kind of bug (the antlion, if you must know). However, when I spent summers in Texas in my youth, the term was used by everyone I knew to refer to pillbugs.
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### Author:  [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/13 "2005-09-29T15:27:19Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> OK, maybe only I find that amusing.
Nope, I had to mop some errant iced tea off the desktop.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/14 "2005-09-29T15:29:14Z")
Rolis polius, I believe.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/15 "2005-09-29T15:40:22Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#):
>
> Close…ours have a hard outer shell. (Still, the CA ones are creapy to look at!)
The ones shown in that link are not actually _Armadillium._
The links below show several _Armadillium_ species, which is the most common kind that rolls up into a ball:
[http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted\_sites/woodlice/photos/armadillium\_nasatum.html](http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/woodlice/photos/armadillium_nasatum.html)
[http://www.bionat.unipi.it/polo/laboratorio9900/menini/fotoisopode.gif](http://www.bionat.unipi.it/polo/laboratorio9900/menini/fotoisopode.gif)
[http://www.painetworks.com/photos/hq/hq1307.JPG](http://www.painetworks.com/photos/hq/hq1307.JPG)
Some marine relatives get a lot larger, like this [Giant Deep-Sea Isopod](http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/logs/oct13/media/isopod.html)
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### Author:  [@Schuyler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schuyler)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/16 "2005-09-29T16:16:15Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Some marine relatives get a lot larger, like this [Giant Deep-Sea Isopod](http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/logs/oct13/media/isopod.html)
I’ve got to say, the first thing that came to mind was, “Now there’s a roly poly you can sink your teeth into.” I wonder how it would be stir-fried in butter?
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### Author:  [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/17 "2005-09-29T17:20:36Z")
> [@Dolukhanova](#):
>
> However, when I spent summers in Texas in my youth, the term was used by everyone I knew to refer to pillbugs.
Really? I’ve never in my life heard the term “doodlebug” until your post.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/18 "2005-09-29T17:27:53Z")
The names for this animal vary by region, mostly. See this survey [“What do you call the little gray creature (that looks like an insect but is actually a crustacean) that rolls up into a ball when you touch it?”](http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_74.html) Note that the most common name (at 33.07%) is “roly poly.”
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### Author:  [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/19 "2005-09-29T17:31:14Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Some marine relatives get a lot larger, like this [Giant Deep-Sea Isopod](http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/logs/oct13/media/isopod.html)
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Remind me to stay out of the deep sea…
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### Author:  [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-the-real-name-for-roly-polys/324019/20 "2005-09-29T17:31:16Z")
Wow, “wood louse” is only 0.4% and “slater” isn’t even on the list.
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