Nice Spiders Parachute Into East Coast

Arachnophobes on the East Coast are in for a bad time. The Joro spider, an invasive species that snuck into Georgia from East Asia eight or nine years ago, could be moving north. According to new research published in Physiological Entomology, the big, colorful web-weavers can survive cold weather and may soon be occupying much of the Eastern Seaboard.

The Joro (Trichonephila clavata), is typically bright yellow, blue-black and red, and roughly the size of a child’s hand. The name is derived from Jorōgumo, a goblin in Japanese lore that can shapeshift into a beautiful woman to entrap men.

The first Joro stowaway likely arrived in a shipping container in 2014. By last year Georgia was positively inundated with them. “Porches, power lines, mailboxes and vegetable patches across more than 25 counties in the state have been draped with the dense, wheel-shaped webs,” wrote Live Science. If it moves north, it won’t need to hitch a ride because Joro hatchlings make their own web parachutes and have been known to sail as far as 100 miles on the wind.

Unlike most invasive species, entomologists believe Joros will be benign, even beneficial. So far in Georgia they’ve been feeding on mosquitoes, flies, and the brown marmorated stink bug which damages crops and has no natural predators. Joros aren’t poisonous and they rarely bite anyway; their fangs aren’t big enough to break human skin.

“There’s really no reason to go around actively squishing them,” says Benjamin Frick, a coauthor on the new research. “Humans are at the root of their invasion. Don’t blame the Joro spider.”

An up-close look here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGGtMB7Mbrk&t=31s.

Photo credit: University of Georgia