Asellus, the name of a genus of woodlice + Latin –formis ‘-formed’. For the appearance of the areoles. Ehrenberg compared “this strange plant” to a “heap of woodlice” (“Haufen Kellerwürmer”). Compare Echinopsis arachnacantha.
Pelecyphora asseliformis. Image credit: Michael Wolf / CC BY-SA 3.0
Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2022 Feb 02). Pelecyphora aselliformis. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/pelecyphora-aselliformis