Face to Face with Pillbugs

Aaron Muderick

I was inspired by Forrest Mims's article about pill bugs near his house in Texas, so I decided to take some extreme close-ups of my own.

I lifted a clump of garden mulch, and pill bugs (Armadillidium) were everywhere. I photographed them with a Canon Digital Rebel XT with various lenses and macro combinations, including a 100 mm macro lens, 60 mm of extension tubes, and a reversed 35 mm lens in combination with the others. Powerful lighting was provided by a Canon twin macro flash.

At this scale you can clearly see the similarities to crustaceans that Forrest pointed out in his article.

Figures 1 and 2. These macrophotographs provide an entirely new view of the pill bug. Photographs by Aaron Muderick.

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