Armadillidium frontetriangulum 'Corfu' Isopods

Look at one head-on and you half expect it to swivel and blink like a tiny mantis. The triangular face is its signature, and it is right there in the name. This is Armadillidium frontetriangulum, the "Corfu" or "Painted Corfu" isopod, a characterful Greek Armadillidium from the Ionian island of Corfu. The specific epithet stitches together "fronte", forehead, and "triangulum", triangle, and once you have seen that pointed, angular head you will not forget which species you are looking at.

Seen from the front, the face narrows to that distinctive triangle, giving the whole animal a mantis-like look that no other commonly kept pill woodlouse quite matches. Over a darker body it carries a marbled, painted patterning, scattered pale flecks that shift from one individual to the next and deepen as adults mature. Like every Armadillidium, it conglobates, rolling into a tight, seamless ball the moment it feels threatened, and the painted markings stay on show even when it is buttoned up. There is also a selectively bred 'Orange' form of the same species, a warm, uniform morph for anyone who wants that triangular head in a brighter coat.

The appeal is the mix: a face with real character sitting on top of care that asks very little of you. This is a hardy, forgiving species that settles quickly, forages out in the open rather than hiding away, and rewards a display setup where you can watch it going about its business. It keeps good company with other Mediterranean isopods such as Armadillidium gestroi and Armadillidium granulatum, or the spiny Greek Armadillidium beieri, and you can weigh up the whole range across our Armadillidium collection.

Care follows the Mediterranean template rather than the tropical one, and getting that balance right is most of the job. Keep the colony at room temperature, somewhere around 18 to 24°C, which suits most UK homes with no extra heating. Aim for moderate humidity with a clear gradient: a damp end of sphagnum and leaf litter where moulting animals can retreat, and a drier end they are free to move to. Give the enclosure medium-to-high ventilation so the air never turns stagnant, because this isopod forgives the odd dry spell far better than it forgives standing damp. Build the floor from a leafy, wood-rich substrate, work in some flake soil for extra nutrition, and keep calcium on offer at all times from cuttlebone or crushed shell so moults come off cleanly. Finish with a generous layer of hardwood leaf litter and a few pieces of cork for cover and grazing.

Once the colony has found its feet, breeding is steady and undemanding. Females carry their eggs in a brood pouch and release fully formed young that arrive as miniatures of the adults, taking on the painted patterning and that trademark head as they grow. Stable warmth, a sensible moisture gradient, steady calcium and the odd pinch of protein keep the numbers ticking up without fuss. A working springtail culture makes an ideal companion, clearing mould and keeping the damp end fresh, and if you want to know how the orange morph and other colour forms arise, our guide to isopod genetics, colours and morphs is the place to start.

Every order is captive-bred here and packed to travel comfortably, settled into a ventilated tub of damp sphagnum inside a double-walled box that holds warmth and cushions the trip. We dispatch Monday to Thursday by tracked next-day Royal Mail, aiming for delivery by 1pm, and every parcel is backed by our live-arrival guarantee. a 20% overcount goes in as standard, so your colony starts with a few more than you ordered.