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Rollie Pollies can fly?

AuthorMessage
Lieutenant
May 06, 2011
196
I'm pretty sure most people have noticed this already, but how... just how... do Rollie Pollies get on our ships when fighting hornets in the skyway? Can they fly or something? I dunno! Does anyone have an explanation or a theory?
Admiral
Jul 07, 2013
1124
They roll into balls and are able to bounce long distances.

Virtuous Dante Ramsey
Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
KatherineDragonBla... on Mar 17, 2015 wrote:
I'm pretty sure most people have noticed this already, but how... just how... do Rollie Pollies get on our ships when fighting hornets in the skyway? Can they fly or something? I dunno! Does anyone have an explanation or a theory?
I asked the same question to Misty Jackson ( Mistydragon13 ) and her answer was simple - and a little terrifying. She postulated that the rollie pollies had attached themselves to our ships ( a bit like barnacles ) and came on deck while we're distracted by battle.
She then added another reason for them being there - by riding the hornets like little cowboys, Yeehaw!
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
KatherineDragonBla... on Mar 17, 2015 wrote:
I'm pretty sure most people have noticed this already, but how... just how... do Rollie Pollies get on our ships when fighting hornets in the skyway? Can they fly or something? I dunno! Does anyone have an explanation or a theory?
I think they smuggle themselves on our boot and pant cuffs
Bosun
Apr 09, 2014
368
Not to step on any toes or gross anyone out. But a rollie pollie is technically a type of lice. I think they just fall off the hornets.
So get a good shampoo out and go clean up those hornets and their nests.
Commodore
May 31, 2009
894
Decius Duelmaster on Mar 18, 2015 wrote:
Not to step on any toes or gross anyone out. But a rollie pollie is technically a type of lice. I think they just fall off the hornets.
So get a good shampoo out and go clean up those hornets and their nests.
Yuck, so maybe I was half right...
Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Decius Duelmaster on Mar 18, 2015 wrote:
Not to step on any toes or gross anyone out. But a rollie pollie is technically a type of lice. I think they just fall off the hornets.
So get a good shampoo out and go clean up those hornets and their nests.
Eeeew, Decius! I used to play with them when I was a kid! One of the few insects that don't bite or sting!
Admiral
May 30, 2010
1221
Decius Duelmaster on Mar 18, 2015 wrote:
Not to step on any toes or gross anyone out. But a rollie pollie is technically a type of lice. I think they just fall off the hornets.
So get a good shampoo out and go clean up those hornets and their nests.
Yeah, they're called wood lice, but they're really an isopod crustacean, not a louse at all.

But our ships are made of wood...
Admiral
Jul 27, 2012
1196
No worries, Esperanza! Rollie pollies of Earth are also called 'woodlice', but they aren't actually 'lice'. Rollie pollies are actually crustaceans (don't those little sections that curl in your hand look like the plates of a lobster?) while lice are insects in truth. (And from a purely subjective point of view, rollie pollies are cute. Lice, with their spiny little bodies and grasping 'mouths', are not. Eew.)

Rollie pollies are terrestrial, but there are some aquatic related species, which could explain why some Spiral Rollie Pollies are found on land, while others are found out in the skies. Though personally, I like Decius' explaination that those enormous, cranky rollie pollies we battle are actually parasites on the (even crankier) hornets. Nothing that says a Spiral creature has to be quite like it's earth equivalent!
Commodore
Sep 20, 2009
989
anecorbie on Mar 18, 2015 wrote:
Eeeew, Decius! I used to play with them when I was a kid! One of the few insects that don't bite or sting!
I believe what you're thinking of Ancorbie is a small insect also commonly called a sow bug or potato bug.
The small greyish silver insects that roll themselves up into little balls? The proper name for those little guys is Isopod, meaning that they have bodies flattened dorso-ventrically. Isopods are actually the terrestrial version of Amphipods, (flattened latterally or side to side) which look an awful lot like shrimp. A common name for Amphipods is ... Sea Monkey.

So Anecorbie, if you used to play with Rollie Pollies (and they were the same bugs I'm thinking of) then you were simply playing with terrestrial sea monkeys. The Rollie Pollies that Decius is speaking of simply goes by the same common name as sow bugs. (happens quite often which is why there are the latin binomial names for everything)

PS. Isopods aren't insects, they're arthropods, but not insects, they've got too many legs and not the right type of body segments. Insects are hexapods, having six legs and three body segments with the legs being attached to the middle body segment.
Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
CdeWinter on Mar 19, 2015 wrote:
I believe what you're thinking of Ancorbie is a small insect also commonly called a sow bug or potato bug.
The small greyish silver insects that roll themselves up into little balls? The proper name for those little guys is Isopod, meaning that they have bodies flattened dorso-ventrically. Isopods are actually the terrestrial version of Amphipods, (flattened latterally or side to side) which look an awful lot like shrimp. A common name for Amphipods is ... Sea Monkey.

So Anecorbie, if you used to play with Rollie Pollies (and they were the same bugs I'm thinking of) then you were simply playing with terrestrial sea monkeys. The Rollie Pollies that Decius is speaking of simply goes by the same common name as sow bugs. (happens quite often which is why there are the latin binomial names for everything)

PS. Isopods aren't insects, they're arthropods, but not insects, they've got too many legs and not the right type of body segments. Insects are hexapods, having six legs and three body segments with the legs being attached to the middle body segment.
Thank you all for relieving me and educating me at the same time! To quote a lady Unicorn "Thank you, pirate, for enlightening me."
Also, weren't wood lice the favorite food for bowtruckles? ( If I remember Magical Creatures and Where to Find Them, correctly. )
Commodore
May 31, 2009
894
anecorbie on Mar 19, 2015 wrote:
Thank you all for relieving me and educating me at the same time! To quote a lady Unicorn "Thank you, pirate, for enlightening me."
Also, weren't wood lice the favorite food for bowtruckles? ( If I remember Magical Creatures and Where to Find Them, correctly. )
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.

Page 5 reads:

"Bowtruckle

M.O.M. Classification: XX*

The Bowtruckle is a tree-guardian creature found mainly in the west of England, southern Germany, and certain Scandinavian forests. It is immensely difficult to spot, being small (maximum eight inches in height) and apparently made of bark and twigs with two small brown eyes.

The Bowtruckle, which eats insects, is a peaceable and intensely shy creature but if the tree in which it lives is threatened, it has been known to leap down upon the woodcutter or tree-surgeon attempting to harm its home and gouge at their eyes with its long, sharp fingers. An offering of woodlice will placate the Bowtruckle long enough to let a witch or wizard remove wand-wood from its tree."

*Ministry of Magic Classification: Harmless/may be domesticated

So, yup. Bowtruckles like woodlice.
Ensign
May 16, 2014
14
LOL You guys all took Decius to School. *Decius and I sitting in Entomology class*

This is my first post! (Yay)

Noble Alexandria
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
Captain Jack Aubre... on Mar 20, 2015 wrote:
LOL You guys all took Decius to School. *Decius and I sitting in Entomology class*

This is my first post! (Yay)

Noble Alexandria
Welcome to the message boards Alexandria
Yup, it is ALWAYS good to learn something new.
Petty Officer
Feb 27, 2009
94
Decius Duelmaster on Mar 18, 2015 wrote:
Not to step on any toes or gross anyone out. But a rollie pollie is technically a type of lice. I think they just fall off the hornets.
So get a good shampoo out and go clean up those hornets and their nests.
But haven't you seen the SIZE of the Rollie Pollies? Those thing are about as big as their backs!

Quentin Davenport, lvl 65

Marcus Davenport, lvl 43

Reporting to you cramped in a 6-hour car drive.
Ensign
May 16, 2014
14
MistyDragon13 on Mar 19, 2015 wrote:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.

Page 5 reads:

"Bowtruckle

M.O.M. Classification: XX*

The Bowtruckle is a tree-guardian creature found mainly in the west of England, southern Germany, and certain Scandinavian forests. It is immensely difficult to spot, being small (maximum eight inches in height) and apparently made of bark and twigs with two small brown eyes.

The Bowtruckle, which eats insects, is a peaceable and intensely shy creature but if the tree in which it lives is threatened, it has been known to leap down upon the woodcutter or tree-surgeon attempting to harm its home and gouge at their eyes with its long, sharp fingers. An offering of woodlice will placate the Bowtruckle long enough to let a witch or wizard remove wand-wood from its tree."

*Ministry of Magic Classification: Harmless/may be domesticated

So, yup. Bowtruckles like woodlice.
May be domesticated... are they a pet in wizards?

Noble Alexandria
Admiral
Jul 07, 2013
1124
I searched the trees. So far I ran into ents, still looking for those girls, (Where are they???), Rusalky, Vily, and Nereides, one of whom I knew personally. Can I have a rain check please? Be back later...

Apparently Bowtruckles are becoming a bit more rare. I was hoping to start a population in Cool Ranch. I am told they help wand trees grow better. Perhaps it would help a few witchdoctors. What is the trade scenario with Wizard City?

Virtuous Dante Ramsey
Petty Officer
Feb 27, 2009
94
Earlier I was fighting Ki-Rin for a quest that requires 15 of them. I had 8/15 and they were coming in packs of four, so I estimated that I would need to fight Ki-Rins two more times.

But then...

I remembered how the Rollie Pollies spawned in with the hornets in Cool Ranch, taking up space where Hornets could be and making the quest double its size, so I added two more Ki-Rins fights just to subtract any suprise attacks from the Pollies. Fortunately, they never came.

Quentin Davenport, lvl 65

Marcus Davenport, lvl 43

Those Rollie Pollies better not meet me in a dark alley...
Captain
Dec 01, 2012
607
Wow,I'm late in posting on this thread.So...in order of people I have something to say to...

Decius,where can I buy Hornet shampoo?Actually,I don't know if the people of the Spiral have invented modern shampoos...where can I get hornet soap?

CdeWinter,thanks for a breath of fresh taxonomy.You know,I always hear people(well...anglophones)talking about sea monkeys and I'm so confused as to what it really is.Sure,we studied Amphipods a year or two ago along with others belonging to the CLass of Malacostraca,but really,no one ever pointed a connection.

Captain Jack Auburn/Alexandria WELCOME TO THE MESSAGE BOARDS!I hope you have a lot of fun in many more classes to come.
Misty,thanks for that,I really needed to check that out.I didn't know so much about Bowtruckles...

Dante,I believe you may find Bowtruckles in Grizzleheim...which is unambiguously close to Wizard City,so odds are some trees there used to have Bowtruckles before Ambrose or someone else drove them away,or something,or they kinda just faded into the aether...oh and I think you can find Rusalka in Polaris.Or maybe in Darkmoor.I don't know.Imo,it's one of the best Czech operas...