ARACHNIDA > OPILIONES > Phalangiidae > Oligolophinae

Odiellus spinosus is a robustly built, wide-bodied species, typically around 7-9mm long, although females are sometimes slightly larger. The body is yellowish-grey to greyish-brown with a truncated, almost rectangular, saddle that is outlined in black with a paler centre. Although the outline is usually evident in the male, it is sometimes only noticeable at the rear of the female. At the front of the head area there's a pale, albeit often indistinct, widening band from the ocularium to the trident.

The ocularium is pale on top with three to five small tubercles. The most characteristic feature though, in combination with the general body shape, is the conspicuous trident, which has three robust, more or less equal-sized, forward-pointing spines in front of the eyes (hence the species name). In addition, there are thick spines on the trochanters and margin of the front half of the cephalothorax.

The chelicerae and the pedipalps are pale yellowish-brown, and the legs are relatively short and stout.

Unfortunately, my only encounter with this species so far was with the juvenile featured below, which is still in the process of developing, so some features such as the trident are not yet evident.

Odiellus spinosus is a non-native species with the first verified British record coming from Corfe Castle in Dorset back in 1890. It favours warm, dry open habitats and for a long while was very much a southern species but, over quite a number of years now, has gradually been extending its range further northwards.  

Although, primarily a ground-living harvestman, it may occasionally be found on walls or low vegetation. Sadly, it's another under-recorded species with less than 250 entries on the NBN Atlas over the past twenty-five years with only one from Dorset (VC9) and none from South Hampshire (VC11). The 'Spider and Harvestmen Recording Scheme' website has a few more locally, but not enough to provide useful information. But, from the sightings where the habitat was confirmed, it has been most frequently found in gardens, parkland, brown-field sites or around buildings, rather than in woodland. In Europe it is regularly associated with sandy soils, so there's every likelihood that it could also occur on heathland.