Agabiformius lentus (Budde-Lund, 1885)

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Status:

GB IUCN status: Not applicable (non-native)

ID Difficulty

4

Identification

Agabiformius lentus is a small brownish woodlouse reaching 6 mm body length. The body bears feeble tubercles, with pale background colour and three ill-defined darker stripes running the entire length of the body. It is reminiscent of an immature Porcellio scaber, from which it is differentiated by the shape of the head lobes and the highly arched body. Male first pleopod with highly characteristic exopod.

A brief description of this species, with figures, is given in Gregory (2014).

Steve Gregory
Steve Gregory
Steve Gregory

Distribution and Habitat

Once considered Britain’s most widespread glasshouse alien, the only recent record is from the Eden Project, Cornwall, where three specimens were collected by Mark Telfer from the Rainforest Biome in 2009 (Gregory, 2014). 

In 2025 a single specimen was found in a garden centre in Essex by Thomas Hughes and Annie Northfield, which was found under a small olive tree imported from Sicily (Gregory, 2025). 

This species originates from the Mediterranean coasts, but has been widely introduced to many other parts of the world. It may be awaiting discovery at other heated glasshouses and garden centres throughout Britain and Ireland.

References

Gregory, S.J. (2025) 15 years on: An update to Woodlice and Waterlice in Britain and Ireland, part 2 ~ Non-native species, not yet naturalised. Bulletin of the British Myriapod and Isopod Group, 37: 7-25. 

Gregory, S. (2014) Woodlice (Isopoda: Oniscidea) from Eden Project, Cornwall, with descriptions of species new to Britain, and poorly known British species. Bulletin of the British Myriapod & Isopod Group 27: 3-26. 

Links

World List of Marine, Freshwater and Terrestrial Isopod Crustaceans: https://www.marinespecies.org/isopoda/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=258716 

BRC code

82

idBmigTaxa

Cru_1042