Overview
- Researchers led by István Urák report in Subterranean Biology a 106 m² web hosting an estimated 111,000-plus spiders.
- The colony is dominated by two species, roughly 69,000 Tegenaria domestica and 42,000 Prinerigone vagans, in the first documented case of interspecific communal behavior for these spiders.
- Sulfur-oxidizing bacteria form biofilms that feed non-biting midges, which then sustain the spiders, with cave populations showing altered microbiomes and genetic differences.
- The structure forms a mosaic of thousands of individual webs that in places have torn away from the wall under their own weight, leaving holes.
- First noted by Czech speleologists in 2022, the transboundary site is now a focus for conservation due to its fragility and access and management challenges.