Giant black and yellow spiders the size of a human hand will arrive in northeastern U.S. states this summer, including New Jersey and New York.
Jorō spiders are an invasive species that originated in China and experts say they can fly up to 100 miles by turning their webs into makeshift parachutes.
Although they are venomous, scientists say that Jorō spiders’ venom is weak and their fangs are not strong enough to break the skin of humans or pets.
The spooky reptiles measure approximately four inches long and have legs that measure between six and eight inches. The females are brightly colored and have been known to cannibalize their brown male companions.
Jorō spiders are believed to have arrived in the United States about ten years ago in containers delivered to Georgia.
Jorō spiders have a body about four inches long and legs that measure between six and eight inches, often taking up most of the palm of a human hand.
Since then, the disturbingly large arachnids were spotted in Georgia in 2021, weaving their large golden orb-shaped webs all over people’s yards.
Experts have long predicted the massive spread of Jorō spiders along the East Coast, with a Rutgers University ecologist telling DailyMail.com in 2023 that they should be in New Jersey and New York “possibly even next year.” .
“Because their main dispersal methods are ballooning with the wind or hitchhiking,” PhD student and ecologist José R. Ramírez-Garofalo told DailyMail.com, “they will generally spread where the wind blows.” blows, or where the humans are.
A multi-state group of researchers predicted that Jorō spiders will eventually make their home throughout the continental US, Canada, and even parts of Mexico.
The spider’s ability to survive in all these different areas with very different climates was demonstrated by an experiment conducted at the University of Georgia last December.
While the imposing Jorō spider is likely here to stay, according to most scientists, no deaths have been documented from this arachnid. They are poisonous, but their venom is weak. Their fangs also cannot pierce the skin of a human.
Scientists froze more than two dozen spiders about eight inches long and found that 75 percent of them were unaffected.
As such, the researchers told DailyMail.com that they saw “no barriers” to the Jorō spiders’ northward march.
“The native range in Asia includes much of western China and the entire Korean Peninsula, so the spiders are clearly well adapted to fairly cold climates,” explained one researcher.
The good news for arachnophobes in the northeast is that Jorō spiders don’t want to enter homes and prefer to stay outside and use man-made structures as a base to form their webs, according to an October report. peer reviewed study directed by David Coyle.
The map, created by environmental entomological researchers in New York, Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina, shows where Jorō spiders are most likely to spread.
Coyle, an assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University, suggests that people, if they don’t want spiders around, simply move them with a broom or stick.
Coyle added that while the direct effect of Jorō spiders on other native species such as golden silk spiders is unclear, it is clear that they are an invasive breed that requires more attention from the scientific community.
“These are not just benign spiders coming to catch and kill bad things; “They are driving out native species and trapping and killing everything in their nets,” Coyle said.
