Philoscia muscorum | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Isopoda |
Suborder: | Oniscidea |
Family: | Philosciidae |
Genus: | Philoscia |
Species: | P. muscorum
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Binomial name | |
Philoscia muscorum |
Philoscia muscorum, the common striped woodlouse[2] or fast woodlouse,[3] is a common European woodlouse. It is widespread in Europe, the British Isles and is found from southern Scandinavia to Ukraine and Greece.[4] It has also spread to Washington and many states in New England, also the mid-Atlantic states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as Nova Scotia.[4]
P. muscorum may reach 11 millimetres (0.43 in) in length, with a shiny body which is mottled and greyish-brown in colour.[3] The fast woodlouse is, as its name suggests, faster than other common species; its body is raised up off the ground rather more than the others and the head is always very dark in colour.
Twelve subspecies are recognised:[1]