ATHENS
\nScientists have discovered a giant spider web spanning about half the size of a tennis court and with some 111,000 spiders in a cave on the border between Greece and Albania.
\nThe web in the \u201cSulfur Cave\u201d in the Vromoner Gorge covers some 106 square meters (1,140 square feet), according to the study in the publication Subterranean Biology.
\nIn it are some 69,000 domestic house spiders (Tegenaria domestica), in addition to over 42,000 of Prinerigone vagans dwarf weavers (Linyphiidae), the study said.
\nThe researchers from universities and natural history museums in Albania, Romania, Belgium, Germany and Italy called the discovery \u201cthe first documented case of colonial web formation\u201d of two species that are normally solitary.
\nBased on its spatial distribution and dimensions, species composition and population density, in addition to the food resources, the spider colony is unique and remarkable, they said.
\nThis is \u201cthe first documented case of colonial web formation in these species,\u201d the experts said, adding that the structure is formed \u201cof numerous individual funnel-shaped webs.\u201d
\nThe cave, so called because of its abundance of the chemical, completely straddles the border \u2014 its entrance is in Greece, while the deepest sections are under Albanian soil.
\nSprings located in the deep recesses of the cave feed a sulfidic stream which flows through the entire length of the main cave passage, the study said.
\nThe spiders share the cave with numerous other insects, including centipedes, scorpions and beetles.
\nThe discovery was first reported by members of the Czech Speleological Society, the study said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ATHENS Scientists have discovered a giant spider web spanning about half the size of a tennis court and with some 111,000 spiders in a cave on the border between Greece and Albania. The web in the \u201cSulfur Cave\u201d in the Vromoner Gorge covers some 106 square meters (1,140 square feet), according to the study in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-515792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n