Terrestrial isopods are, apart from the amphipods, the only group of crustaceans living on land. They have evolved some functional and anatomical adaptations to manage water and ion exchange between themselves and their environment, and these are different from those in all other crustaceans. In higher terrestrial isopods, liquid water is taken in by mouth (Hoese, 1981) and water vapour is absorbed in the pleoventral space (Wright and Machin, 1990; Wright and O’Donnell, 1992). Spencer and Edney (1954) also showed that water from wet filter paper can be taken up by the animals’ rear appendages (uropods).

Keywords:
terrestrial isopod, Porcellio scaber, liquid water uptake, radioactive tracer, technetium-99m, blocking experiment.
© 1993 by Company of Biologists
1993
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