This ‘spider megacity’ may be the largest web ever found. But what’s inside is even more extraordinary
100,000 genetically distinct spiders found in ‘world’s largest web’
- Researchers have discovered what could be the world's largest known spider web, a 100-square-metre 'megacity' in a cave on the Albania-Greece border.
- The massive web is home to over 100,000 spiders, comprising 69,000 domestic house spiders and 42,000 sheet weaver spiders.
- This discovery is significant as both species are typically solitary, making it the first documented cooperative web woven by multiple individuals of different, normally non-social spider species.
- The spiders have adapted to the cave's harsh, lightless environment, sustained by a unique food chain where microbes feed midges, which then become prey for the arachnids.
- DNA analysis revealed that the cave spiders are genetically distinct from their surface relatives, indicating adaptation to their unique habitat, with scientists suggesting lack of light may aid their coexistence.