Woodlice can spread seeds they eat, study suggests

Many plants produce fruits animals can eat so that they also eat the seeds and deposit them some distance away after they have been digested and released as waste

Researchers from Kobe University, Japan, found that woodlice and earwigs consumed significant amounts of seeds (Alamy/PA)

Researchers have discovered that woodlice can spread seeds they eat, setting a new record for the smallest animal recorded doing so.

The findings highlight the crucial yet often overlooked role that small invertebrates – insects – play in ecosystems, and may be cause to re-evaluate conservation strategies, scientists say.