Rosy woodlouse

Appearance

''A. dentiger'' is a small woodlouse, at only 6 mm long, and is characteristically pink or orange in colour, with a yellow stripe along the midline of the dorsal surface, which divides in two towards the animal's tail. It has large eyes for its size and a granular exoskeleton.

Naming

According to some authors, ''A. dentiger'' may be considered a complex of sibling species or cryptic species . Six subspecies are recognised:
⤷ ''Androniscus dentiger africanus'' Arcangeli, 1939
⤷ ''Androniscus dentiger caecus'' Brian, 1938
⤷ ''Androniscus dentiger calcivagus'' Verhoeff, 1908
⤷ ''Androniscus dentiger croaticus'' Strouhal, 1939
⤷ ''Androniscus dentiger dentiger'' Verhoeff, 1908
⤷ ''Androniscus dentiger ligulifer'' Verhoeff, 1908

Habitat

In the British Isles, ''A. dentiger'' is found in a wide variety of habitats, including coastal areas, gardens, old quarries and caves. It lives where there is a significant amount of lime available, and is reported to show a preference for Anglican churchyards over Catholic ones because the older, Protestant churches used ox-blood mortar.

In the south of its range, ''A. dentiger'' is primarily troglobitic, with populations in different cave systems being genetically isolated by the lack of migration between caves. Animals like ''A. dentiger'' which prefer to live in caves, but are not restricted to the cave environment may be termed ''troglophilic''.

In North America, ''A. dentiger'' is only known to occur in greenhouses.