Often found in home gardens and landscaped areas across the country, sowbugs (Porcellio scaber) and pillbugs (Armadillidium vulgare), also known as roly polies, feed primarily on decaying plant matter and are important in the decomposition process.
Roly-poly bugs and sowbugs are interesting not insects at all but are terrestrial crustaceans, making them more closely related to crabs, crayfish, and shrimps than ants and other insects that are normally found in soil.
How to Identify Pill Bugs (Roly Pollies) and Sowbugs?
Similar in appearance, sowbugs and pillbugs (3/4 inch long) are slow-moving oval-shaped crustaceans that more closely resemble crayfish, shrimp, and lobster than insects.
You may have already noticed us referring to roly poly bugs as pillbugs in this article, which is interestingly not the only name they have which can actually sometimes be quite confusing for some people.
Both sowbugs and pillbugs mate throughout the year with most of the activity occurring in March and April. The female incubates her eggs in a fluid-filled pouch located on the underside of her body for 3-7 weeks.