An orbweaver spider at the centre of its symmetrical, wheel-like web. It has a darker leaf-like marking (the folium) on the top side of its abdomen which looks a little like a fleur-de-lys.

Arachtober 2026

This year, as usual, I posted (well, tried to post) an arachnid picture every day in October for #Arachtober. Here’s the Mastodon thread, but you can also browse through all the photos here.

A pedestrian bridge by night, with downward-facing lights set underneath the wooden railings. A spider has built its web directly beneath one, creating a giant spider shadow on the walkway. — An orbweaver spider’s shadow in a walkway light.

A further-out view showing the bridge curving away, with dozens of similar lights. — A wider view of the bridge.

An orbweaver spider at the centre of its symmetrical, wheel-like web. It has a darker leaf-like marking (the folium) on the top side of its abdomen which looks a little like a fleur-de-lys. — Close-up of one of said spiders.

A bright red mite with pointy mouthparts that are buried in the underside of a small many-legged arthropod covered with little bristles (more of which are scattered around it). — A snout mite preys on a bristle millipede.

Another angle that better shows the snout mite's elbowed pedipalps on either side of the snout, like a weevil's antennae. One can also see a thick clump of bristles. — A snout mite preys on a bristle millipede.

Here is what a bristle millipede looks like alive and the right way up, more like a carpet beetle larva or a caterpillar than a typical millipede. Its segments are fringed with rows of bristle-like hairs, and it has two bundles of longer hairs coming out of the end of its butt, a little like the waxy tail of a planthopper. — A live bristle millipede.

A spider seen by night on a log fence. She has long thin but not overly spindly legs, a brown and beige lengthwise-striped head with a cluster of uniformly small eyes at the front, and an extremely large swollen abdomen with two sort of rough dark lines running lengthwise and speckled flanks. — A heavily gravid Agelenopsis grass spider.

An old tomb in a large cemetery. It is a tall square block surmounted by a tapering column. The inscription on the front is almost completely worn away. — I found many opilionids on tombs like this.

On the old stone, an arachnid with a plump oval orange body that has armoured-looking segments and a splotchy dark marking down the middle. It has two tiny eyes on a little tubercle towards the front of its head. Its legs are extremely long and thin and extend out of frame, and the left leg IV (its left) is missing. — A Leiobunum opilionid on a tomb in Toronto’s Necropolis.

A small reddish-orange mite with longish translucent legs that have faint red-orange banding and lots of spiky hairs sticking out exactly perpendicular to the leg. It also has two dark red eyespots. It looks very similar to a whirligig mite if you stretched it out a bit and added lots more leg hair. — A spiky little erythracarid mite on a pine tree.

A small flattish brown spider perched on the plank of a picnic bench with its abdomen slightly raised. A fine, straight thread of silk can be seen coming from the spinnerets at the end of its abdomen. — A running crab spider prepares to balloon from a park bench.

About ten oblong or oval golden-brown mites, as well as a larger glossy dark brown elongated-teardrop-shaped critter with very short golden-brown elytra, on the grimy underside of a log. — A tiny rove beetle among mesostigs.

Close-up with one of the mites almost in focus, showing its longer, thin, antenna-like first pair of legs and its short, curved, almost claw-like second pair of legs. The smooth dorsal shield seems undivided. — Close-up of a typical predatory mesostig.

Another group of mites near the first one; no doubt a nymphal stage. They are rounded and simpler-looking, with legs peeking out from underneath. — A cluster of larval mesostigs, I think.

In a shady, lichen-encrusted crevasse on a tree trunk, a tiny almost translucent little spider reaches out a leg to a large fat vaguely peanut-shaped red mite that has tripped a silk line. The mite dwarfs the spider. — A sumo mite crosses paths with a tiny cobweb spiderling.

Six red velvet mites of various sizes, scrambling around on a tree root in the grass. One is eating a dead midge. — Several sumo mites in grass near a tree root.

A bold jumping spider eating a midge as it peeps out from a hole in a metal railing. It has green-blue chelicerae and banded orange-brown and black legs. — A bold jumping spider peeks out from a hole in a metal railing.

A female jumping spider being courted by a male on a worn log fence. They are both mottled brown, with the male being a warmer lighter shade. I'm not sure of the genus or species... — A pair of jumping spiders courting.

A black-and-white zebra jumping spider eating a small midge on a green park bench. — A zebra jumping spider with a midge.

An ant-mimic jumping spider that looks similar to a carpenter ant, on a stone wall. — A jumping spider that mimics a carpenter ant.

A small brown, somewhat flat-bodied spider (built for running, ambush hunting, and fitting into low spaces, with a crab spider-like eye arrangement) rests on a wooden surface. He is missing three of his left legs (his left, our right) but has all of his right legs. The ends of his pedipalps are quite large and bulbous, but homogeneous and undifferentiated, not the complex organs they will become in adulthood...if he makes it that far. — A running crab spider missing several legs.

A bunch of tiny oval mites on a yellow recycled plastic plank in a Muskoka chair (a. k. a. Adirondack chair in the US). Their bodies are mostly translucent but have dark markings mostly on the rear half. — Bird mites on a yellow plastic Muskoka chair.

A close-up of one of the mites. Its front pair of legs are reaching up and out, a little like the soil-dwelling predatory mesostigs previously featured here. The markings make it look like it has two body segments, but they are actually fused. — Close-up of a few bird mites.

A wide photo, with two spiders at the outskirts of a (faintly visible) web against the grey backdrop of a willow tree trunk. The male (left) has longer legs but a much smaller body, and long palps that have knees; they are folded over. He has a white folium (leaf-like marking) covering the top of his abdomen, with flushes of pink on the side. The female has a slightly larger head and a much larger abdomen with a shiny yellow underbelly. They are both plucking at the silk lines to communicate. — Male (L) and female (R) missing-sector orbweavers courting.

An orbweaver, light brown and black-brown with spiky, banded legs and a white dotted cross marking on the dorsal side of its abdomen, hangs upside down in the relative shelter of a juniper-type bush. — Dorsal view of cross orbweaver.

A side view of the spider. Note the tiger-like stripes on its sides and the small curved protrusion on the underside of its abdomen—the scape, a part of mature female genitalia. I'm sure other species have scapes too but the appearance can be used to ID A. diadematus. — Side view of cross orbweaver, showing scape on epigyne.

Three-quarters view of a small jumping spider on limestone. It has a pair of large forward-facing eyes and its abdomen is striped white and brown. (The colour of the zebra stripes can range from the palest grey to brown to jet black.) — Zebra jumping spider, three-quarters view.

A view of the spider's abdomen, showing the diagonal stripes of white and rusty brown, formed out of lots of little hairs. — Dorsal view of zebra jumping spider.

The spider looking straight up at the camera. It has a smaller pair of eyes flanking its main pair. Fangs can be seen at the ends of its shiny black chelicerae, partly hidden by fluffy white pedipalps. — Zebra jumping spider looking up at camera.

On smooth flat bark covered with light seafoam-to-leaf-green-coloured crustose lichen and bold yellow-green foliose lichen, a squat, shiny red mite with spiky hairs is next to a small woolly white clump, one of several visible on the tree trunk. — A whirligig mite on a white fluffy woolly aphid on a tree trunk.

A closer view shows the mite's pedipalps are buried in the fluff (they were moving around, in fact). — Close-up of mite and aphid.

A medium-sized spider with a smooth dark red-brown head, lighter red-brown legs, and satiny grey-brown abdomen, lit from the front as it sits on a log fence post. Its eyes are small and in two rows across the front of its wide head. Note the slender, simple pedipalps. — A female broad-faced sac spider.

A very similar spider on a different bit of log fence, seen from the front. Its pedipalps, one of which is sort of in focus, have a round bulb near the end and a curved, slightly bulbous tip. Note also the ordinary-looking chelicerae with small fangs tucked underneath, the most immediate sign it's not a woodlouse spider. — A male broad-faced sac spider.

A large, strawberry-shaped, slightly flattish red velvet mite crawling over mud. — A Trombidium red velvet mite scrambling over mud.

Close-up showing the goosebump-like texture of the mite's back. — Close-up of Trombidium.

The bank of the creek, formed by large stone blocks. It is early May so there is not much greenery, but a lot of moss. — The creek in High Park where I found several of these.

A photo taken from the same spot, just looking the other direction. There is a fallen tree and low green plants just starting to grow on the banks, and in the background the pale yellow-green of new leaves on trees. — A dead tree by the creek where I found a few more.

A furry wrinkly red mite on a tree — Allothrombium sumo mite on tree.

A very small spider, almost translucent light brown with a darker grey-brown abdomen, hanging in the air from an invisible silk thread. A bright green midge, shaded blue-green and yellow-green, is clutched in its jaws. The background is the dull grey of a willow trunk. — A sac spider dangles in mid-air with its prey.

One of the spider's small uniformly sized eyes reflects white in the light as it spins around in the air with its prey. — A sac spider’s eye glints.

The sharpest photo, a side view. You can see individual spinnerets, the short silky coat of its abdomen, and almost even the tiny dark claws at the end of each leg. — Close-up of sac spider in midair

A light orange damselfly (like a dragonfly, but more gracile and with wings folded vertically rather than held out horizontally at rest) perches on a chain-link fence by night. Its wings have a rainbow glint. There is reddish bokeh from highway traffic in the background. — Damselfly on chain-link fence by night.

A closer shot shows small, shiny orange-red spheres attached to the underside of the damselfly's thorax; also, the coat of short fine hair covering the damselfly. — Close-up of damselfly, with spherical red mite larvae on its abdomen.

Side view, slightly motion blurred, as the spider investigates tiny crevices and caves in the colourful, reef-like landscape of the bark. — Admestina hunting on tree trunk.

On a tree trunk covered with bright yellow-green and pale blue-green lichen in various textures, a small drab-coloured jumping spider with an elongated, flattened body and thick front legs, seen from above and behind. Its abdomen is dark with rough somewhat irregular crenellated pale edges. — Dorsal view of Admestina, a small, flattened, neutral-coloured jumping spider.

The spider facing the camera while standing beside a ridge of bark. It has two large round middle eyes flanked with smaller ones, and a dark band going around the head at eye level. — Admestina jumping spider facing camera.

An orbweaver (with the bulbous but homogeneous pedipalps of a juvenile male and the delicate white parentheses of a Larinioides orbweaver on the dark underside of his abdomen) hangs in front of a yellow-orange wall, wrapping up a crab spider in silk. — An orbweaver wrapping up a crab spider.

A squat dark brown spider with a wide, flattened body and two burly front pairs of legs sits on a wall splashed with blue-white and orange paint. — A crab spider on orange/blue wall.

Another dark brown crab spider of the same kind sits on a brilliant ocean blue-painted wall. — A crab spider on a bright blue wall.

A long narrow leaf of some kind (can't remember the species) lying on flat stone, with several little pill-shaped raspberry red mites clinging to the edges. — Sidewalk mites on the edges of a leaf.

The same kind of mites clinging to the serrated edges of a Virginia creeper leaf. — Sidewalk mites on the points of a Virginia creeper leaf.

Close-up of a sidewalk mite on what I believe is a maple leaf. Its mouthparts seem to be touching the leaf. — Close-up of sidewalk mite on leaf.

A pirate spider hanging upside down from silk on the outskirts of another spider's web. Its abdomen is creamy white with the dark dorsal markings only barely visible from this angle; its appendages and cephalothorax are translucent and covered in small dark spots, except for its shiny black chelicerae. — A pirate spider hanging at the edge of another spider’s web.

A slightly different angle, with most of the spider's body out of focus, but showing long straight spikes on its front two pairs of legs. — The tell-tale spikes on the pirate spider’s front legs.

In the juncture where two Municipal Park Bench-green planks meet, among dust and debris, is a fuzzy golden ball. It is a dense yellow-gold silk ball coated with an aureole of curly yellow silk. — A fuzzy, golden, spherical egg sac made by a pirate spider.

A light brown prowling-type spider on smooth tree bark. It has 8 small eyes in two rows along the front of its gently domed head, and it is covered all over with a fine coat of soft, light hair. The forward-facing sides of its femurs nearest us have a slight blue-rainbow iridescence. — A leaf-curling sac spider on a tree trunk.

A prowling-type spider with sleek black fur with white dorsal markings, wedged in a crack in tree bark. One small eye reflects light back. — A black-and-white parson spider in a tree bark crevice.

A shot lit from a different angle, so you can better see the Geneva bands-like stripe down its back, and also its prominent tubular spinnerets, a characteristic of the ground spider family. — Another angle of the parson spider; note the white dorsal markings.

An absolutely ridiculously infinitesimal little brown wolf spider, compressed down to such a small size basically only its two large posterior median eyes, widely spaced, are visible from the front (normally you would see a row of four smaller ones underneath it). It is standing on a leaf and the whole photo is green-hued. It looks like it's about to cry. Photo CC-BY-SA by Hrodulf Steinkampf. — A tiny Minicosa neptuna wolf spider. Photo by Hrodulf Steinkampf, CC-BY-SA.

A female M. neptuna, on a rock at an angle, with a large bulgy white egg sac attached to her abdomen out of focus in the background. She is inutterably small and her primary pair of eyes are so wide-set they are practically on the sides of her head, giving her an expression of utmost innocence and bewilderment. If someone doesn't submit this to @alttexthalloffame@mastodon.social I will riot. — A female M. neptuna toting an egg sac. Photo by Hrodulf Steinkampf, CC-BY-SA.

A small-to-medium-sized light brown prowling-type spider with spiky, dotted legs and a sparse pattern of darker brown spots on its velvety-looking abdomen. It is on a wall with flaking white paint. — A ghost spider found prowling by night in High Park.

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