Overview
- The peer-reviewed study in Subterranean Biology documents a contiguous web of roughly 106 square meters harboring more than 110,000 spiders.
- The aggregation comprises about 69,000 Tegenaria domestica and over 42,000 Prinerigone vagans cooperating within one communal structure.
- Field data tie the colony’s food supply to sulfur-oxidizing bacterial biofilms that fuel dense populations of non-biting midges.
- Genetic and microbiome analyses show cave populations differ markedly from surface relatives and exhibit low microbial diversity consistent with adaptation to extreme conditions.
- Researchers locate the site in the Vromoner canyon area and urge protection of the Cueva del Azufre to preserve its exceptional subterranean biodiversity.