List of arthropods

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Considering that the Dungeon is a dark, dank place filled with moist corners and rotting corpses, it's no surprise that it contains countless arthropods ranging in size from freakishly huge to terrifyingly gargantuan. These creepy-crawlies are some of the weaker opponents you'll encounter, but they shouldn't be underestimated; a great many of them have venomous bites or stings, more than a few also have exotic and dangerous special abilities, and they tend to come in swarms. While there are some exceptions, vulnerability to poison is a common arthropod weakness. They lack internal skeletons, so Necromancers are unable to raise them as skeletons (they may still be zombified, however).

Arthropods in general are fairly common throughout the Dungeon and the Lair, but certain varieties are quite common in other areas. The Spider's Nest in particular is full of spiders, as well as a variety of other bugs.

Crabs

t Fire crab - Scuttling pyromaniac menaces that turn the Dungeon into a furnace with their fiery breath.

t Ghost crab - Undead fire crabs which spew ghostly flames, harming the living and summoning hostile spirits.

t Apocalypse crab - Rare Abyss-dwellers that bathe their prey in the unpredictable forces of raw chaos.

Flying Insects

y Killer bee - Painful alone and deadly in swarms, these pack hunters are a menace to the unprepared.

y Queen bee - Extremely venomous and capable of sending other bees into a berserk frenzy.

y Meliai - Beefolk priestesses with axes and smiting that always come in threes.

y Hornet - An oversized wasp dyed red in the blood of its paralyzed victims. Occasionally used as mounts by spriggans.

y Spark wasp - Electric swarming insects capable of launching themselves as bolts of living lightning.

y Vampire mosquito - Pesky undead insects that will happily suck the unwary dry.

Moths & Butterflies

b Butterfly - Harmless and pretty and occasionally in the way.

y Moth of wrath - These fluttering nuisances are capable of enraging anything they come across.

y Sun moth - Holy moths surrounded by haloes. They attack with light and flame when provoked.

y Ghost moth - Invisible psychic predators with debilitating poisons.

Arachnids

s Scorpion - Swift, stinging arthropods that are capable of seriously poisoning careless adventurers.

s Culicivora - Bloodsucking spiders that can also heal their brethren.

s Jumping spider - A hyperactive spider which leaps in and out of combat, covering its prey in sticky webbing all the while.

s Tarantella - Strange spiders with a touch that disorients their prey.

s Redback - A notoriously venomous arachnid, capable of seriously poisoning even those who are resistant.

s Orb spider - Cowardly, unnatural spiders that can launch orbs of devastating energy at their foes.

s Wolf spider - A powerful spider capable of tearing foes apart even without its venom.

s Broodmother - Enormous spiders that constantly swarm prey with their endless offspring.

s Emperor scorpion - The beefiest arthropod of them all, they shrug off blows that would fell lesser bugs.

Unique Arachnid

H Arachne - Formerly human, this hybrid creature rules over and defends the Spider's Nest with powerful Poison Magic and endless webbing.

Other Arthropods

B Formicid - Rarely-seen humanoid ants who are most notable for their ability to burrow through rock walls.

B Giant cockroach - Common pests of the upper floors of the Dungeon; mostly harmless.

B Boulder beetle - Heavily armored bugs with powerful mandibles that pursue prey by rolling at high speed.

s Demonic crawler - Swift, hellish arthropods that partially resist most elements, including poison.

B Entropy weaver - Odd insectoid casters that can rapidly corrode their foes' equipment.

B Pharaoh ant - Undead ants with life-draining bites. Their destruction empowers the souls of others to rise as simulacra.

H Jorogumo - Predatory spirits that take spider-like forms. They pin their prey in place before blasting them with unholy magic.

B Radroach - Mutated cockroaches that blast their surroundings with magical radiation.

B Death scarab - Undead swarming beetles that drain life and speed with their bites.

Retired Arthropods

a Ant larva - Baby ants that were about as threatening as a goblin with three limbs missing.

B Boring beetle - Beefy, but easily avoided. They tended to turn any floor with rock walls to swiss cheese if left to their own devices.

k Bumblebee - Bigger, solitary bees with a much less terrifying history of player deaths than the killer variety.

b Chaos butterfly - Dangerous Abyssal butterflies that created raging storms with every flap of their wings.

k Giant firefly - Flying insects notable for their signal flash and their use as mounts for spriggan riders.

s Giant mite - Bloated, poisonous vermin found in the early Dungeon.

B Goliath beetle - Slow enough for even nagas to kite, but durable enough to make you wonder if it's worth the effort.

w Killer bee larva - Virtually zero threat, much like ant larvae.

B Soldier ant - The sort of giant ant that could chomp through armour and shake off stab wounds. Extra venomous!

s Spider - Scuttling poisonous pests. Individually weak, but they came in swarms.

s Trapdoor spider - Cowardly vermin that struck at those who walked past their hiding places and retreated underground when injured.

y Polymoth - Fluttering menaces that constantly polymorphed nearby monsters. Dummied out in 0.13 and were fully removed in 0.14.

B Queen ant - Less nimble than other ants, but came with a highly venomous bite and was always guarded by her numerous offspring.

y Moth of suppression - Sickly moths that suppressed all magical items within their zone of effect.

s Giant centipede - Fragile, but had highly venomous stings.

y Wasp - Although slower and more solitary than killer bees, their stings slowed and paralysed their victims.

B Worker ant - Venomous critters that sought out puny adventurers to drag back to their nests.

History

• 0.28 - Added culicivoras, jorogumos, radroaches, broodmothers, sun moths, and pharaoh ants.
• 0.27 - Removed worker ants, soldier ants, and queen ants.
• 0.26 - Returned boulder beetles.
• 0.19 - Added meliai and removed wasps and boulder beetles
• 0.18 - Added spark wasps, removed trapdoor spiders and plain spiders.
• 0.17 - Added entropy weavers, removed giant mites, boring beetles and goliath beetles.
• 0.16 - Added death scarabs, renamed yellow wasps and red wasps to wasps and hornets, respectively.
• 0.15 - Added ghost crabs, removed giant fireflies.
• 0.14 - Removed giant centipedes and moths of suppression.
• 0.13 - Added and quickly removed polymoths.
• 0.12 - Added moths of suppression and chaos butterflies, and removed bumblebees and ant larvae. Chaos butterflies were swiftly removed due to flooding issues.