Description
Oniscus asellus is one of the largest native woodlice in Britain, at up to 16 mm (0.63 in) long. It is relatively flat, and is a shiny grey in colour, although juveniles are rougher.
Pale patches are often visible on the back of Oniscus asellus; these are areas that store calcium, which is then used to reinforce the exoskeleton after a moult. Moulting occurs in two halves, with the rear half moulting before the front half. The exuvia is often consumed by the animal after moulting.
Read more about this topic: Oniscus Asellus
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little the better for anything else.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)