US EditionResearchers Discover Enormous ‘Spider Megacity’ Spanning 100 Square Meters in Balkan Sulphur Cave
The web spans 1,140 square feet and hosts over 111,000 spiders from two species adapting to a sulfur-rich, sunless environment through cooperative behavior.
- On Oct. 17, a study published in Subterranean Biology reported more than 111,000 spiders share a single interconnected web spanning about 1,140 square feet inside Sulfur Cave on the Albania–Greece border.
- The cave's chemoautotrophic ecosystem relies on a sulfur stream feeding sulfur-oxidizing bacteria that form white microbial biofilms on cave walls, which non-biting midges consume, sustaining the spiders as apex consumers in the cave food chain.
- Researchers identified the residents as roughly 69,000 Tegenaria domestica and 42,000 Prinerigone vagans, with DNA, microbiome and isotope analyses showing genetic distinctions and adaptations to the cave environment.
- The team urged protection for the colony, noting this is the first documented colonial web formation in the two species and the cave straddles two countries.
- Cavers with the Czech Speleological Society first spotted the web in 2022, prompting 2024 scientific visits and ongoing research; István Urák said, `The natural world still holds countless surprises for us.
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79 Articles
Tioga Publishing
Scientists discover world’s largest spider web
Researchers found the colossal web hosting a megacity of around 111,000 spiders located on the border between Albania and Greece.
The cave is located on the border of Greece and Albania, is full of mosquitoes and always too dark – best conditions for thousands of spiders who have stretched a huge net system there.
Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF)
MoneycabOver 111,000 spiders in a single web complex – why two species in huge numbers can survive in a cave.
Researchers have discovered what they say is the largest known spider web complex in the world in a remote cave on the border between Greece and Albania, known as the Sulphur Cave. It stretches over an area of about 106 square meters and is home to more than 111,000 spiders. Even more intriguing is the fact that two different species coexist in the web.
Researchers say they have discovered the world's largest known spider web complex. The web, located in a remote cave on the border between Greece and Albania, known as Sulphur Cave, covers an area of approximately 106 square meters and is home to more than 111,000 spiders, according to research published last month in the journal Subterranean Biology.
In a remote cave in Greece, researchers have discovered what is likely the world's largest spider web complex to date – with more than 111,000 spiders. What is extraordinary is that two solitary spider species live there together.
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