Purple pillbugs: Iridovirus

June 16th, 2009

I kept seeing pillbugs (roly poly) that were a very pretty purple color. I finally googled it and the poor things are infected with a virus called iridovirus. It’s fatal.

I don’t mind pillbugs; they work hard in my compost pile and I appreciate their service. So while these purple guys are lovely, I’m kind of sad for them. I know that’s strange…I cannot explain my affection for the bugs these days.

I can’t seem to get a good picture of the purple bugs. By the time I run in for my camera, they’ve disappeared, probably off to die. But here’s a good pic:

http://insektenfotos.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10324&thumbnail=1

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Posted in Organic Gardening | 2 Comments »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Organic Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Purple pillbugs: Iridovirus”

  1. Mary Smith Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    HI Juli,

    Great pictures. Poor buggies.

    I have news about CH,III . Are you getting my e-mails?

    We have had three hailstorms, no tornadoes this year (yet). My garden is toast.

    Mary (in the Fort)

  2. Juli Says:
    June 27th, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    Hey Mary! I’m delighted to see you here. In all the craziness I forgot to renew this domain, but got it back. One more thing I like about Go Daddy, they don’t try and hose you if you goof up like that.

    Did the hail do a number on your garden?

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