Common name
Coastal Black-eye
Status:
- GB IUCN status: Least Concern
- GB rarity status: Nationally Scarce
ID Difficulty
Identification
The pygmy woodlice of family Trichoniscidae (and Styloniscidae) are readily distinguished from other woodlice by the shape of the antennal fagellum which comprises a tapered cone (of indistinct segments) bearing a terminal bristle. All trichoniscids, except Haplophthalmus spp., have a stepped body outline.
Miktoniscus patiencei is a small off-white coastal woodlouse reaching 4mm body length. The eye consists of a prominent single black ocellus, its colour retained in alcohol, and the entire body is covered in coarse spiny tubercles.
The coastal Trichoniscoides saeroeensis is of similar appearence, but has reddish/orange ocelli, which rapidly lose their colour in alcohol, and the dorsal surface is less coarsely tuberculate.
