World’s Largest Spider Web Discovered in Bizarre Sulfur Cave

This cave is home to a spiderweb “megacity” the size of half a tennis court

By Humberto Basilio edited by Andrea Thompson

While exploring a sulfur cave on the border between Albania and Greece, scientists from the Czech Speleological Society discovered the largest spider web ever recorded. The vast “megacity,” which spans more than 1,040 square feet – almost half the size of a tennis court – is home to an estimated 111,000 spiders of the species. Domestic tegenaria And Prinerigone vagans, according to a study conducted by a separate group of researchers. This is the first documented case of either of these two species building webs together, the study authors recently reported in Underground biology.

Sulfur caves are some of the most extreme habitats on the planet. They are completely dark and filled with hydrogen sulfide, toxic to most life forms. Inside, species survival depends on chemical reactions powered by microbes that oxidize sulfur. These microorganisms form the basis of a unique food chain that supports a community of cave-dwelling organisms.

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To understand how the spiders survive in this environment, the team analyzed the chemical signatures of their tissues, which revealed that the arachnids feed on tiny midges that hatch from cave pools. These flies themselves rely on sulfur-oxidizing microbes as their primary food source.

A genetic analysis showed that cave spiders are distinct from populations of the same species that live outdoors, suggesting that they are adapted to the underground environment, the researchers wrote. They believe that this genetic isolation, combined with a stable and abundant food supply, may have caused these species – which have never been reported to form colonies – to adopt colonial behavior.

This new discovery “shows that nature still has many surprises in store for us,” says study co-author Urák István of Hungary’s Sapientia University of Transylvania in Romania.

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