At least that's the way it seems, with just nine species of Woodlice recorded historically in Nottinghamshire during the 1800's and 1900's.

On the face of it, it would seem that Woodlice don't have much going for them to sow the seed of interest within the minds of young naturalists.

They do however, prove to be popular with children on minibeast hunts though, especially when showing them the developing eggs or young being carried around on the underside of the female. Woodlice perhaps can then after all, help to play a part in raising awareness of our natural history within the next generation of naturalists.

Historical records and recording

As prolific as the Victorian naturalists were, it seems that only J.W Carr himself, did any formal Woodlice recording in the county, although C. E. Pearson did provide records of both Porcellio dilatatus from a Chilwell greenhouse and Porcellionides pruinosus from both Chilwell and Lowdham in the early 1900's. Porcellio dilatatus and Porcellionides pruinosus were both recently rediscovered in the county in late 2015 and early 2016, after a century's absence.

Several other discoveries followed in the 1960's and 1970's. Most involved very small, soil-dwelling woodlice including Haplophthalmus danicus from near Rufford CP in 1961 (Standen, V.), while Androniscus dentiger, Trichoniscus pygmaeus and Trichoniscoides albidus recorded in the county for the first time from West Bridgford in 1975 (Rundle, A.J.) and Trichoniscus provisorius from Sutton Bonington (Fussey, G.D.) in 1979. The much larger Cylisticus convexus, was recorded from the old Boughton Tip (now known as Ollerton Pit Woods) in 1986 (Langston, M.R.). All five species have been recorded again in the past year or so.

Some recent Nottinghamshire additions

With presently around 40 known UK species, Woodlice recording and interest has gathered little momentum, although there are several regular Woodlice recorders based around the UK. So if you want to contribute significant and quite unique information on a county level, then an interest in the recording of Isopods (Woodlice) is perhaps the way forward.

On the positive side, there is much to be said in favour of recording Woodlice. As invertebrates go, identification is limited to below 60 species, they can be found in any location type and throughout the year. Only in extremely cold conditions, will they become more difficult to find as they move deeper into the substrate to avoid hard frosts.

Until a few years ago, we had done very little work on Woodlice ourselves, but within a few months recorded Armadillidium depressum as new to Nottinghamshire in 2013. In September 2016 we recorded Armadillidium nasatum from Southwell Garden Centre and then later from the site of the former Bilsthorpe Colliery in July 2017. Haplopthalmus mengii was also added to the county list in 2017 and Philoscia affinis in 2020. More species must surely be awaiting discovery.

The two species which everyone knows are Oniscus asellus (Common Shiny Woodlouse) and Porcellio scaber (Common Rough Woodlouse). Both species are extremely common in gardens and are good species to learn and get to grips with, as far as Woodlouse identification goes.

So far known only from the Sherwood Forest area of Nottinghamshire, Haplophthalmus danicus was first recorded from near Rufford CP in 1961 (Standen, V.). There were no further records until 2017, but it has been found on a number of occasions since, with known sites including Clipstone Old Quarter , Sherwood Forest CP, Cuckney and Cockglode Wood (all Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.). A record from Warsop Main Pit Top in 2017 (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.) is currently the only county record from a brownfield site. Likely to be more common than records suggest.

Probably more widespread along many of the county's rivers, than present records would suggest, but especially likely to occur along other stretches of the Trent Valley.

Once considered to be a form of Trichoniscus pusillus Brandt, 1833, Trichoniscus provisorius was given full species status a number of years ago. But because of the difficulties in identification, the only county records are from Sutton Bonington in 1979 (Fussey, G.D.) and Sherwood Forest CP in February 2018 (Pendleton, T .A. and Pendleton, D.T.).

Recent records have come from the grounds of Hawton Church (Whiteley, D.) and Epperstone Church (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.). One was also found under the loose bark of a cut branch on The Carrs at Market Warsop (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton , D.T.), a few months after adjacent fields had had manure spread on them. Records from more typical habitat have been from manure heaps at Tug Bridge Farm near Eakring (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.) and the Nottingham Trent University's Brackenhurst Campus near Southwell (Heeney, W. and Skinner, M. Lugg, K. and Lugg, B.) in 2015, and from a former farm Lambley in early 2016 (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.).

It has since turned up at two other sites, with an obviously long established population found to be present on the site of the former Bilsthorpe Colliery in 2017 (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton, D.T.). In November 2018, it was found on the site of the former Warsop Main Colliery at Warsop Vale (Pendleton, T.A. and Pendleton , D.T.). This record surprised us to a large degree, as the site had been well recorded for a number of years, but A. nasatum is likely to be found at many other former Colliery sites in Nottinghamshire, especially where conditions are dry and stony.

The third revision of our Atlas of Nottinghamshire Woodlice is now available to download as a pdf file. This revision again sees the species accounts completely re-written and updated, along with the very latest (November 2018) distribution maps for each species. All 18 species known from Nottinghamshire are illustrated and both Cylisticus convexus and Trichoniscus pygmaeus are included in the atlas for the first time.

Published December 2018