Scientists discover world's largest spider web, home to more than 100,000 spiders
Romanian scientists have discovered the world's largest spider web in a sulfur cave on the border between Greece and Albania. According to preliminary estimates, about 111,000 spiders can live in the web. Live Science and Subterranean Biology reported this.
The researchers discovered more than 111,000 spiders living in the world's largest web. They have made their home deep inside a black cave on the Albanian-Greek border. The web stretches over 106 square meters. the "spider metropolis" is located in the Sulphur Cave, which was formed as a result of the oxidation of hydrogen sulphide in groundwater.
"This is the first evidence of colonial behavior in two common spider species and likely represents the largest spiderweb in the world," said study lead author István Urák, an associate professor of biology at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania in Romania.
A sulfur-rich stream flows through the Sulfur Cave, fed by natural springs, filling the cave with hydrogen sulfide and helping microbes and midges, which spiders feed on, survive.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, fishermen off the coast of Costa Rica caught an unusual giant nurse shark, which had a rare bright orange color.