World's largest spider web discovered in European cave

The giant web, which is up to 100 square meters wide and is home to more than 110,000 spiders, opens up many new hypotheses about the social behavior of spiders, which have long been considered solitary predators.

A remarkable scientific discovery has just been recorded in the border area between Albania and Greece, where researchers witnessed the largest spider web ever observed in nature.

The giant web, which is up to 100 square meters wide and is home to more than 110,000 spiders, has opened up many new hypotheses about the adaptability and social behavior of spiders, which have long been considered solitary predators.

According to scientists, this giant spider web is the product of the large house spider Tegenaria domestica, which is common in Europe and often lives in places where humans live.

Surprisingly, in this special cave there are up to 70,000 individuals of the spider species, which are used to living alone, each only a few millimeters apart without attacking each other.

In addition, there are nearly 40,000 Prinerigone vagans - another spider species - also living on this spider web. The fact that there are a large number of individuals of two different spider species living together in harmony is considered by researchers to be an unprecedented phenomenon.

The most likely explanation lies in the unusual abundance of food sources found in cave environments. The webs were built right next to a sulfide spring, where bacteria thrive on the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide.

This layer of bacteria nourishes mosquito larvae and when adult mosquitoes emerge from the water, they become a constant source of prey for the spiders.

The abundant energy flow from the bacteria-mosquito-spider ecosystem creates an ideal environment, completely reducing competition and maintaining peaceful coexistence between the two spider species.

The research team, led by Professor Jean-François Flot from the Free University of Brussels (ULB), showed that the Tegenaria domestica spider population in the Sunfua cave had undergone a significant genetic divergence from those living outside, likely as a result of thousands of years of isolation.

In addition, the microbiomes of individuals in the cave were also significantly poorer than those of their relatives living just a kilometer away, reflecting specific adaptations to the typically sulfide-rich and energy-poor environment of caves.

The discovery of the world's largest spider web not only expands understanding of the complex behavior of spiders, but also highlights the importance of preserving Sulphur Cave.

This is the only known site on the planet that possesses a multi-species collective spider web system of such remarkable scale and unique ecological structure.

Scientists say that protecting this area is essential to continue researching the mysteries of evolution, adaptation and biodiversity in the extreme ecosystems that nature still preserves./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phat-hien-mang-nhen-lon-nhat-the-gioi-trong-hang-dong-chau-au-post1077213.vnp