PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF THE EXOSKELETAL MICROBIOTA OF ARMADILLIDIUM VULGARE (THE COMMON PILL BUG)

The purpose of this study was to preliminarily examine the breadth of microbial diversity on the pill bug (Armadillidium vulgare) exoskeleton. To address this question, we collected pill bugs at four time points (approximately 3 months apart) and analyzed their external microbiotas. Preliminary results suggest that each time point contained a unique microbiome, suggesting a rapid turnover of the exoskeletal microbiota. In total, we recovered 15 unique isolates, which we resolved into three phyla and nine families. There were only three instances in which we recovered a single isolate from multiple time points, and we recovered only a single isolate from all four time points. Among the phyla identified, sequence divergence ranged from a minimum of 6.2% (among isolates recognized within the Actinobacteria) to a maximum of ∼34% (between isolates recognized within the Actinobacteria vs. b-proteobacteria). Overall, the results of this study suggest that in order to gain a complete understanding of the exoskeletal microbiota of pill bugs, and perhaps other arthropods, researchers must examine a temporal scale.