Year 13 Animal Study

1
Year 13 Animal Study Porcellio scaber
2
Most slaters are a mottled gray colour. This
gives them good camouflage in their chosen
habitat.
Occasionally you will find orange, purple and
white slaters. The never appear to be many of
these of these other colours. Probably they are
selected against by predators who find them
easier to find and eat.
3
(No Transcript)
4
Porcellio scaber
5
Superkingdom Eukaryota Kingdom
Metazoa Phylum Arthropoda Subphylum
Crustacea Class Malacostraca Subclass
Eumalacostraca Superorder Peracarida Order
Isopoda Suborder Oniscidea Family
Porcellionidae Genus Porcellio Species scaber
6
Superkingdom Eukaryota Kingdom Metazoa Phylum
Arthropoda Subphylum Crustacea Class Malacostra
ca Subclass Eumalacostraca Superorder Peracarida
Order Isopoda Suborder Oniscidea Family Armadi
llidiidae Genus Armadillidium Species vulgare
7
Slaters moult one half of the body at a time.
8
(No Transcript)
9
New born slaters
10
The female places the fertilized eggs into a
brood pouch under her abdomen. When fully
developed the young slaters just crawl out of the
brood pouch. They are born with 6 pairs of
walking legs (periopods)
11
What is the reason that Porcellio scaber excrete
ammonia? Why does this occur?
12
Woodlice do not produce urine. Instead of
excreting urine, woodlice excrete their
nitrogenous waste in the form of ammonia
gas.Most animals find ammonia to be too toxic
for excretion and so any ammonia formed is
normally converted to urea or uric acid for
excretion.
13
Woodlice seem to have very high resistance to
ammonia and are able to excrete it as a gas
directly through the surface of their
exoskeleton. This means that they do not need to
use energy to convert the ammonia to urea or uric
acid before excretion.
14
(No Transcript)
15
Pseudotrachae are found on pleopods one and two
of both males and females. They have a single
opening to the outside. Inside the pleopod they
branch out into an array of fine tubes. In this
way they increase the area for gas exchange.