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Mitostoma chrysomelas (Hermann)
National status Common County status Essex Local
Frequency Ratio 3.8 Tetrad Percentage 3.8 Tetrad Frequency 12.1 Monad Frequency 9.6
Distribution
Recorded widely across the county in a
variety of habitats but localised and much
less frequent than N. bimaculatum.
Habitat and Ecology
Many records of the species have been
from deciduous and coniferised woodland in
leaf litter and at grass roots in woodland
rides. The harvestman has also been
recorded from grassland, especially at the
base of tussocks in rough grassland, wet
grassland, heath and acid grassland, at
ground level in Phragmites and sedge marsh
and in an old chalk quarry under stones and
in pioneer vegetation.
Records of adults are for most months

Adults
but peak during the early summer and autumn.

Threats
Not threatened.
FAMILY TROGULIDAE
Anelasmocephalus cambridgei (Westwood)
National status Local County status Essex Scarce
Frequency Ratio 1.1 Tetrad Percentage 0.9 Tetrad Frequency 2.9 Monad Frequency 2.4
Distribution
This species has only been recorded in
the north of the county and most records
have resulted from pitfall trapping. Perhaps
surprisingly it has not been found in the old
chalk quarries of the Grays area.
Habitat and Ecology
Most modern records are from roadside
verges or banks including a calcareous
flower-rich verge in the north-west of the
count)' but on sands and gravels in the
north-east. There is one record from deep
leaf litter in a deciduous wood near
Copperas Bay (TM2031).
Sankey (1988) and (Hillyard & Sankey
(1989) both indicate the preference of this
ground-living species for calcareous soils, in litter and moss, under logs and stones in rough
grassland and woodland.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 16 (1999)