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Scientists in Romania found the world’s largest spider web in a cave near the Greek-Albanian border, containing 111,000 spiders of two competing species coexisting peacefully.
A researcher studies what scientists believe to be the largest spider web in the world, discovered in a Roman cave rich in sulfur. (Photo: X/@Rainmaker1973)
Scientists in Romania may have discovered an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare after finding what they described as “the world’s largest spider web”. The discovery, which was published in the journal Subterranean Biology, and the video of the discovery. It went viral due to its sheer size and intensity.
The researchers said the huge web was home to about 111,000 spiders, most of them from two competing species that appeared to coexist peacefully. According to LiveScience, which first reported the discovery, the net stretched along the walls of a narrow, low-ceilinged tunnel deep inside a sulfur-rich cave, in a permanently dark area near the cave’s mouth.
The sprawling colony consists of thousands of interconnected oppressive networks, which researchers have likened to a “silk tent city.” They believe it may be the largest spider web ever recorded.
In a 20-second video of the discovery, one of the researchers is shown touching the net, which appears as a thick, pale mass stuck to the cave wall. The ripple caused by his touch becomes visible under the glow of his headlamp, demonstrating the size and thickness of the web.
The cave housing the web is located at an altitude of 1,140 feet on the border between Greece and Albania.
Inside this giant spider city lived two species of spiders: the barn funnel weaver, also known as the house spider, and another species called the leaf weaver or dwarf weaver.
What amazed scientists most was that these spiders, which usually live alone and even fight with each other, were somehow peacefully sharing the same huge web, something that had never been seen before.
“You have to try it to really know what it feels like,” lead author Istvan Orak, an associate professor of biology at Hungarian Sapientia University in Transylvania in Romania, said while speaking to . Live Science.
He added: “If I were to try to express all the emotions I had when I saw the web, I would highlight admiration, respect and gratitude.”
Shankianil Sarkar is Sub-Editor at News18. It covers international affairs, focusing on breaking news and in-depth analysis. He has more than seven years of experience during which he covered many… Read more
Bucharest, Romania
06 November 2025, 9:54 PM IST
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