Armadillidium Corcyraeum Silver Isopods

If you want the Corfu isopod, this is the one. The epithet corcyraeum comes from Corcyra, the classical name for the island, and Schmalfuss's 2013 revision of the Greek Armadillidium restricts the species to the northern Ionian islands, Kérkira, Paxí and Lefkáda, plus the strip of western Epirus mainland facing them. That is the whole range.

We mention it because several animals in the hobby carry Corfu in their trade name on much thinner grounds, including one of ours. Armadillidium pallasii is sold as a Corfu animal here and elsewhere, but it is really an Adriatic and Balkan species with a single Corfu record to its name. Corcyraeum is the genuine article.

The sheen, and what it actually is

The body is dark grey. What you see on top of that is a bluish, sometimes metallic reflection that changes with the light and with the conditions the animal is kept in. It is not a silver animal. Under a bright side light it can look like polished metal; in a shaded tub it reads as plain charcoal, and both are the same woodlouse. Any listing showing you a uniformly silver isopod, including our own older photographs, is showing you one lighting setup.

The other thing to know before you buy is the size. This is one of the smallest Armadillidium in the hobby at around 10 to 12mm, which is roughly half the length of a big pallasii. It is a detail animal, best in a shallow display where you can get close to it, and easily lost in a large planted vivarium.

The species

Armadillidium corcyraeum Verhoeff, 1901, family Armadillidiidae, accepted with no synonymy to argue about. Karl Wilhelm Verhoeff described a great deal of what this hobby keeps, including, twenty-five years later, the genus that most of our tropical stock was filed under until 2025.

Adults conglobate cleanly and completely. Lifespan runs to two or three years on the usual trade figures, which nobody has published but which matches what keepers report.

Keeping them

Warmer than the drier Mediterranean species and less fussy than its size suggests. 20 to 26°C, so a heated room will do and a mat is not needed. Humidity in the 60 to 80 per cent band, but arranged as a gradient with real dry areas, not held at a number, and with enough ventilation that the surface never sits wet.

Five centimetres of substrate with hardwood leaf litter above it, plus cork bark and flat stone for cover, and cuttlebone or limestone always available. Feed the ordinary detritivore range with protein occasionally. Springtails are worth adding at the start to keep the damp end clean, because a small isopod in a small enclosure notices mould before a big one does.

It breeds steadily rather than explosively, and a starter group takes a season or two to become a colony you can take from. Not difficult, just unhurried. More pill woodlice are under Armadillidium isopods. The other true Ionian endemic on the site is klugii.

Bred here, and sent out in the early part of the week only. Each order goes into a vented cup on a moss bed, inside a box within a box, and Royal Mail deliver it the following working day ahead of 1pm. We always put a few spare animals in, and the live arrival guarantee stands behind every order.