Highly read at jeb.biologists.org during August

Among the most-read papers at the Journal of Experimental Biology last month was a blast from the past — a 1937 paper about the humidity-seeking behaviour of the common woodlouse by D. L. Gunn of the University of Birmingham, UK. Gunn used specially built chambers to watch the crustaceans — which thrive on wet wood — avoid dryness, principally by hunkering down in humid places and staying still. Gunn looked for the location of the creature's humidity receptor by removing candidate regions of the body or blocking them with Vaseline or paraffin; he concluded that the relevant organs were not on the abdomen or head.

The journal's staff don't know why the research is suddenly popular, but guess that a class assignment might have boosted its download numbers. A recent PLoS ONE paper by Cédric Devigne of the University of Lille–North of France and his colleagues did cite the work. This group adds a twist to the tale with the finding that woodlice tend to form groups regardless of the prevailing conditions.

J. Exp. Biol. 14, 178–186 (1937); PLoS ONE 6, e17389 (2011)