Researchers have discovered what they say is the largest known spider web complex in the world.
The web in a remote cave on the border between Greece and Albania, known as the Sulphur Cave, covers an area of about 106 square metres and is home to more than 111,000 spiders, according to the research published in the journal Subterranean Biology last month.
The enormous web stretches along the rock walls of a passageway and consists of countless funnel-shaped substructures, according pictures and video published on Greek media this week.
The scientists describe it in their paper as an “extraordinary colonial spider assemblage.” The structure is a kind of web mosaic that was built jointly by two different species of spiders – a behaviour that has not been observed before.
The colony consists of around 69,000 specimens of the common house spider Tegenaria domestica, which is also found in Central Europe; and 42,000 specimens of the species Prinerigone vagans, which belongs to the canopy spider family.
Both species are normally solitary and are usually found near human settlements.
According to lead author István Urák from Sapientia University in Romania, the extreme conditions in the dark, highly sulphurous environment may have favoured the unusual cohabitation.