A research article published in the journal Subterranean Biology has gained unprecedented popularity, surpassing nearly 27,000 other studies published by Pensoft. The paper, titled “An remarkable colonial spider community in Sulfur Cave (Albania/Greece) sustained by chemoautotrophy” and authored by István Urák et al., has received meaningful attention from both news media and online platforms.
The Most Popular Research Article Across Pensoft’s Scientific Journal Portfolio
Published in the journal Subterranean Biology,this paper has become the most popular research article ever published across Pensoft’s scientific journal portfolio. It has achieved this feat in terms of both news media coverage and overall online attention.
Thanks to an integration with our partners at Altmetric, we have quantifiable metrics that measure just how exceptional the attention to this article is. The paper’s altmetric Attention Score of 2254 places it in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric globally. In less than a month, it became more popular than nearly 27,000 research papers published by Pensoft and tracked by Altmetric.
The study was covered globally by major news outlets, reaching audiences far beyond niche scientific circles. The article garnered over 2,200 online mentions linking directly to the publication, with Altmetric tracking attention from 290 news outlets specifically. the story was featured by numerous top global news organizations,including The New York Times,BBC,The Washington Post,The Independent,Die Welt and NBC News. It also received coverage from popular science publications such as Smithsonian Magazine and Science Alert.
Beyond traditional media,the study gained significant traction on various social platforms such as YouTube,TikTok and Instagram. It also received mentions on Bluesky and X.
The Interesting Discovery in Sulfur Cave
The paper details a fascinating discovery from sulfur Cave which sits on the border between Albania and Greece. There,the research team documented an extraordinary spider community centered around a massive communal web spanning more than 100 square meters. This giant structure,dense enough to resemble a living curtain,is home to an estimated total of over 110000 spiders comprised of approximately 69000 Tegenaria domestica and 42000 prinerigone vagans individuals.
crucially,this study marks the first documented instance of colonial behavior in both of these spider species and the first recorded case of colonial web-building in a chemoautotrophic cave environment.
This unusual coexistence, where the larger,normally predatory T. domestica does not eat the smaller P. vagans,is believed to be facilitated by the cave’s total darkness and,most importantly,the overwhelming abundance of food resources. The ecosystem is sustained entirely without sunlight through chemoautotrophy,where sulfur-oxidizing bacteria form biofilms that support invertebrates that serve as the spiders’ primary,highly dense food source. This specialized,isolated environment has also driven the evolutionary adaptation of these spiders which are genetically distinct from their surface relatives,demonstrating remarkable genetic plasticity under extreme environmental conditions.
This study sounds fascinating! Can’t wait to read more about it.