Harvestman help

[sebastianbawn]

Found this guy last year, I would have said Phalangium opilio but in all the pics I have viewed, the broad stripe along the back appears to be more angled, kinda like a row of conjoined diamonds. Also some pics don't appear to have spikes at the base of the legs?

[healfdan]

I am pretty positive your image shows Odiellus spinosus

[Geoff F]

The trident assembly, on the tip of it's 'nose' plus that dark band on the back which terminates sharply narrows the option to two potential answers.

Odiellus spinosus or Lacinius ephippiatus and judging by the thickness of the trident I would suspect the former.

But these should be able to be separated by size alone. O. spinosus is a substantial animal of around 8 to 10 mm body length. L. ephippiatus is much smaller and comes around 4 or 5 mm body length.

Both have medium to short legs of 20 mm approx.

[sebastianbawn]

Thank you both. This guy was definitely in the 8 - 10mm category. I have many shots of them. Does anyone know what the males palpal organs look like? (i.e, forks, horns, etc)

[Geoff F]

Fairly bland I'm afraid 'Femur has ventral spine tipped tubercles and the male tarsus has a dense longitudinal field of black micro denticles' but I'm not sure this would be obvious from a photo.

Possibly more important points would be to check the trident from a side view. It should be almost horizontal except for a very slight upward angle. And the Coxae and trochanters have prominent tubercles. Otherwise the legs are mostly spine free, but with hairs.

Occularium rather small and only with a few indistinct tubercles. Rather pale on the top.

ps. Having just rechecked, anything which has a distinctive trident and some 'horns' etc on the pedipalps is only 5 mm maximum body length.

A southern species which occurs roughly south of a line from the Severn to the Wash. But with a number of sightings very close to that line.