Type species of the genus Odius carinatus (Bate, 1862), original description: Otus carinatus Bate, 1862.
Diagnosis and relationship (emended from J. Berge, W. Vader and C. O. Coleman, 1998 with remarks). – Body with dorsal keel; eyes reniform; labrum narrow, incised; base of mandible narrow conical, palp at same level as molar, projection of hingeline present (fig. 6 e), incisor toothed and pointed; maxilla 1 palp 1 - articulate, small, carrying one setae, as in fig. 6g, 6 h; inner plate with 2 plumose setae on the apex; maxilliped palp 4 -articulate; pereopod 1 chelate; palm of propodus forming a motionless finger of chela, with short spine at the posterodistal corner; propodus of pereopod 2 enlarged (its distal margin is approximately 1.5 time wider than proximal one); carpus shorter than propodus; matasome 1 and 2 dorsally produced; metasome dorsal projection acute and upright; telson cleft.
The genus includes 3 species: Odius carinatus (Bate, 1862) from the Arctic Ocean, boreal Pacific Ocean and boreal Atlantic Ocean, Odius cassigerus Gurjanova, 1972 from the southern Okhotsk Sea (Gurjanova, 1951, 1972) and Odius polarsterni (Brandt et Vassilenko, 1995), original description Imbrexodius polarsterni Brandt et Vassilenko, 1995 from Arctic Region (northeastern Greenland).