Nature & Environment

World's largest spiderweb discovered inside a cave in Europe

By T.K. Randall
November 5, 2025 ·  4 comments

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Walking into a spiderweb is bad enough at the best of times, but spare a thought for anyone unfortunate enough to step into this particular cave without realizing what's lurking inside.

Situated on the border between Greece and Albania, the permanently pitch-black cave is home to a spiderweb that happens to cover 1,140 square feet and which contains over 111,000 spiders.

The web is made up of thousands of individual funnel-shaped webs.

"The natural world still holds countless surprises for us," study lead author Istvan Urak of the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania in Romania told Live Science.

"If I were to attempt to put into words all the emotions that surged through me [when I saw the web], I would highlight admiration, respect, and gratitude.""You have to experience it to truly know what it feels like."

Unexpectedly, the huge web was built primarily by just two species of common spider which have never been documented living together and co-operating like this anywhere else.

In fact, under normal conditions, these two species might even be expected to eat one another.

"Often, we think we know a species completely, that we understand everything about it, yet unexpected discoveries can still occur," said Urak.

"Some species exhibit remarkable genetic plasticity, which typically becomes apparent only under extreme conditions."

"Such conditions can elicit behaviors that are not observed under 'normal' circumstances."

Source: Live Science | Comments (4)

Tags: Spiders