Is it a mite?

t

Common names

slaters, pillbugs, isopods, sowbugs

Probability of encounter

high

Quarantine importance

Tramp species.

Similarity to mites

None.

Morphology

Normal adult length: 5–15 mm
Bodybody:
the idiosoma of mites.
tagmata: head (1 obvious pair of antennae), thorax (7 pairs of legs), abdomen (5 free segments; 1 pair of biramous uropods)
Eyes: compound lateral
Antennae: antennae with <10 segments; antennules vestigial
Mouthparts: mandibles without palps; two pairs of maxillae
Legs: 7 thoracic pairs
Respiration: abdominal gills and  pseudotracheae in basalbasal:
towards the base of a structure; on a limb, towards the insertion on the body.
leg segments
Gonopore: first abdominal segment
Distinguishing features: dorsoventrally compressed; one obvious pair of antennae; 7 pairs of legs and 1 pair of uropods

Comments: The isopod bodybody:
the idiosoma of mites.
may be dorso-ventrally flattened, but is often dome-like dorsally and some species can curl into a ball. The second pair of antennae (antennules) are vestigial. The thorax has 7 pairs of legs and the abdomen has a single pair of biramous uropods.

Diversity

>10,000 species

References

• Brusca (Tree of Life Web Project) 1997Brusca (Tree of Life Web Project) 1997:
  Brusca R. 1997. Isopoda. Version 06 August 1997. The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
• Trueman and Dimitriadis 1999Trueman and Dimitriadis 1999:
  Trueman JWH, Dimitriadis S. 1999. Key to families of Australian aquatic Crustacea [Lucid multimedia key]. In: An Interactive Guide to Australian Aquatic Invertebrates (Windows ed. 2). CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood. (Original work published on CD-ROM)
• Williams 1980Williams 1980:
  Williams WD. 1980. Australian freshwater life: The invertebrates of Australian inland waters. Macmillian, Melbourne.