Spiky Pineapple Isopod
Cristarmadillidium muricatum
The spiky pineapple isopod is a small Mediterranean woodlouse recorded from Spain and the Balearic Islands. Its domed body carries flattened, pointed ridges that give it a pineapple-like outline, and it can curl into a ball. Specialist colonies need leaf litter, decaying wood, calcium and ventilated housing with a protected moist retreat. It is kept mainly for its unusual texture rather than as a large display animal. Females brood eggs and developing young in a pouch beneath the body, then release live offspring.
