Giant spiderweb of 110,000 spiders found on Greek-Albanian border

Researchers have recently discovered a giant spiderweb, likely to be the world's largest, containing 110,000 spiders inside Sulfur Cave on the Greek-Albanian border.

"This is the first evidence of colonial behavior in two common spider species and likely represents the largest spiderweb in the world," Istvan Urak, lead author of the study, told Live Science.

The study, published on Oct. 17 in the journal Subterranean Biology, found that the "extraordinary" colony occupies a colossal 1,140-square-foot web located in a permanently dark section of the cave.

While the researchers uncovered new details about the Sulfur Cave's spider colony, the massive web was first spotted in 2022.

The analysis found that the colony is dominated by two species-Tegenaria domestica and Prinerigone vagans-with an estimated 69,000 and 42,000 individuals respectively, confirmed by DNA testing.

"Sulfur Cave's spider colony is one of the largest ever documented, and the species involved weren't previously known to assemble and cooperate in this way," Urak further explained.