Driest habitat for a crustacean

The crustacean species that lives in the driest habitat is the desert woodlouse Hemilepistus reaumuri. Native to North Africa and the Middle East, it inhabits steppes, semi-deserts and (in Egypt and Algeria) real deserts, where it forages for food at temperatures of up to 37°C. At higher temperatures, it remains in its underground burrow. Nevertheless, it spends up to 10 months in every year foraging at the surface.

This species is extremely common, existing at population densities of up to 480,000 individuals per hectare, which is equivalent to a biomass of 19.2 kg per hectare; in comparison, desert mammals, which are far bigger, only have a combined biomass of 39.9 kg per hectare. Owing to its abundance, it constitutes up to 70% of the total diet of the large-clawed scorpion Scorpio maurus, another desert-dwelling arthropod.