Purple Pill Bugs

arachnocat · Oct 2, 2006

Does anyone know what causes some pill bugs to be purple? Is it just a color morph or something else? I found a few today on my bug hunt. I was thinking of trying to breed just purple ones but I don't know if it would work.

tyrel · Oct 2, 2006

That looks suspiciously like it's photoshopped. Although nature is full of suprises, I'm not ready to buy into that with more proof.

Could you post a video?

arachnocat · Oct 2, 2006

I didn't photoshop it, but I did use flash so it looks a little brighter than in regular light. I tried to film it with my work's crappy digital camera but it didn't turn out so well. I'm taking the little guy home so I'll see if I can get a better video of it tonight.

kraken · Oct 2, 2006

I know the bright purple/blue isopods are infected with an infected with an iridovirus.

bugmankeith · Oct 2, 2006

I've never seen anything like that before! I cant see the video?

arachnocat · Oct 2, 2006

That's interesting. I found quite a few blue/purple ones today. This is from the San Diego Natural History Museum Entomology page:

"The blue color you noted is due to an infection of the pillbug by an iridovirus; this disease which affects pillbugs in our area is being studied by scientists at the Universities of California at Riverside and Berkeley. The blue color is due to the refraction of light from the infected cells. The virus has been named the "isopod iridescent virus" or IIV."

Apparently they die shortly after getting the virus. Poor little guys. They sure are pretty though. The iridovirus can sometimes also affect other animals like salamanders and fish. I guess if I turn purple now, I'll know why

Qickshot · Oct 2, 2006

arachnocat said:
That's interesting. I found quite a few blue/purple ones today. This is from the San Diego Natural History Museum Entomology page:

"The blue color you noted is due to an infection of the pillbug by an iridovirus; this disease which affects pillbugs in our area is being studied by scientists at the Universities of California at Riverside and Berkeley. The blue color is due to the refraction of light from the infected cells. The virus has been named the "isopod iridescent virus" or IIV."

Apparently they die shortly after getting the virus. Poor little guys. They sure are pretty though. The iridovirus can sometimes also affect other animals like salamanders and fish. I guess if I turn purple now, I'll know why

LOL yrea hopefully you wont die tho. thats very cool never seen that before around here

Stylopidae · Oct 2, 2006

The iridiovirus will eventually kill the isopod, this is true. However, if you wish to keep blue pillbugs just keep a culture of 'normal' pillbugs alongside the infected ones. Just make sure to not contaminate them.

I believe that the iridiovirus that affects fish and salamanders is different than the one that does the isopods in.

tyrel · Oct 2, 2006

They are very spectacular. There aren't many diseases that make the host MORE attractive.

Stylopidae · Oct 3, 2006

tyrel said:
They are very spectacular. There aren't many diseases that make the host MORE attractive.

Alcoholism

Oh...wait. That's the opposite effect. Never mind.

arachnocat · Oct 3, 2006

Sorry the video didn't work. It was pretty blurry anyway. Here are some better pics though:

Here's one with some normal isopods from the same area

Taceas · Oct 3, 2006

Wow, I'm kind of jealous! They are very striking for a pill bug.

So...are they known in the State of California to be hazardous to your health?

On a slightly more serious note, is this iridiphore virus widespread or just in CA? We have TONS of isopods, sow bugs and pill pugs, that forage around our chicken pen...consuming fallen and moist chicken feed.

Barbedwirecat · Oct 3, 2006

Pity its a bad thing, those sure are pretty.

tyrel · Oct 3, 2006

That looks beautiful!

Here are some other brightly colored bugs I thought you might enjoy: Pink Katydids
These aren't caused by a virus though, It's a mutation.

Taceas · Oct 3, 2006

Man, all the ones down here are a boring ole green.

arachnocat · Oct 3, 2006

Those katydids are beautiful! I wish we had those around here. I think the isopod virus occours in other parts of the US although it sounds like a CA thing since nobody else has seen them. I've been finding them since I was little and I always wondered why they were different color. Now I know

The only thing that concerns me is that I have some of the blue isopods in a terrarium that I was going to keep whipscorpions in eventually. Hope they can't get the disease. I guess I'll know if they change color.:}
I found out that the iridovirus can affect other insects like mealworms and even bees (fortunately no arachnids are listed yet). Here's some more technical info about it if you're interested:
http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/3035/kalmakoff/Iridoviruses.html

bugmankeith · Oct 3, 2006

I never find purple pillbugs, does that mean the virus doesnt exist where I live?

Those pink katydids (or at least the species) looks like the type I see on rare occasions here, so mabye one day I will see a pink one?

I do see red and orange pillbugs/sowbugs here though, they are uncommon, but I see quite a few. One time I found a pillbug that was tanish color, it wasnt tan, it appeared that it's tan spots went haywire and made up most of it's body, leaving only a few gray areas.

Oh yeah and those field crickets (the black ones with brown wings) on rare occasion I find some with red legs, and once I found an adult that was all black, even the wings! Sometimes adults can even be tan color mixed with black, almost like the feeder cricket color, but darker.

dtknow · Oct 4, 2006

I'm in CA and have also seen these. In some places where the disease is prevalent they are pretty common and almost 1/4 of what you find are blue pillbugs. Sowbugs can also be affected.

Has anyone here then found "albinos"? I've come across a few white sowbugs with faint bluish stripe on the back(prolly the guts showing through). It wasn't a disease as they lived just as long as normal sowbugs.

bugmankeith · Oct 4, 2006

Can you get a picture of the "albino's"

Elytra and Antenna · Oct 4, 2006

The iridovirus is found worldwide and only affect crustaceans (if you've ever bought a blue crayfish you bought an infected animal). Crayfish often fight off the infection but isopods die from it.

Purple Pill Bugs

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