Year 13 Animal Study Porcellio scaber
Most slaters are a mottled gray colour Most slaters are a mottled gray colour. This gives them good camouflage in their chosen habitat. Occasionally you will find orange, purple and white slaters. The never appear to be many of these of these other colours. Probably they are selected against by predators who find them easier to find and eat.
Porcellio scaber
Superkingdom: Eukaryota Kingdom: Metazoa Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Crustacea Class: Malacostraca Subclass: Eumalacostraca Superorder: Peracarida Order: Isopoda Suborder: Oniscidea Family: Porcellionidae Genus: Porcellio Species: scaber
Superkingdom: Eukaryota Kingdom: Metazoa Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Crustacea Class: Malacostraca Subclass: Eumalacostraca Superorder: Peracarida Order: Isopoda Suborder: Oniscidea Family: Armadillidiidae Genus: Armadillidium Species: vulgare
Slaters moult one half of the body at a time.
New born slaters
The female places the fertilized eggs into a brood pouch under her abdomen. When fully developed the young slaters just crawl out of the brood pouch. They are born with 6 pairs of walking legs (periopods)
What is the reason that Porcellio scaber excrete ammonia What is the reason that Porcellio scaber excrete ammonia? Why does this occur?
Woodlice do not produce urine Woodlice do not produce urine. Instead of excreting urine, woodlice excrete their nitrogenous waste in the form of ammonia gas. Most animals find ammonia to be too toxic for excretion and so any ammonia formed is normally converted to urea or uric acid for excretion.
Woodlice seem to have very high resistance to ammonia and are able to excrete it as a gas directly through the surface of their exoskeleton. This means that they do not need to use energy to convert the ammonia to urea or uric acid before excretion.
Pseudotrachae are found on pleopods one and two of both males and females. They have a single opening to the outside. Inside the pleopod they branch out into an array of fine tubes. In this way they increase the area for gas exchange.