First came the spotted lanternfliesThen the crickets, and now the spiders. The northeastern US is bracing for an invasion of giant venomous spiders with one-inch legs that can parachute through the air.
Earlier this year, New Jersey Pest Control warned about the incoming spiders Joro spiders will be “hard to miss” as females have a leg span of up to 4 inches (10 cm) and are known for their vibrant yellow and gray bodies.
“What sets them apart, however, is their ability to fly, a trait that is unusual in spiders,” the company said. “While not precise flight in the sense of birds, Joro spiders use a technique known as ballooning, in which they release silk threads into the air, allowing them to be carried by the wind.”
Dave Coyle/Clemson University
José R. Ramírez-Garofalo, an ecologist at Rutgers University’s Lockwood Lab and president of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods on Staten Island, told SI Live that “it’s a matter of when and not if” the spiders in New York and New arriving in York. Jersey.
A peer-reviewed study published last October by David Coyle, an expert on invasive species, found that the invasive species is ‘here to stay’. The insects are native to Asia but were introduced to northern Georgia around 2010, the study said, and continue to spread.
“Anyone who doesn’t like all that creepy stuff has all the traits that make them squeamish,” Coyle previously told CBS News, saying in a press release that “data shows this spider will be able to inhabit most of the East of the US.”
“It shows that their comfort zone in their native range matches very well with much of North America.”
People have reported seeing Joro spiders across much of the eastern US, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Ohio. New York is “right in the middle of where they like to be,” University of Georgia researcher Andy Davis told The New York Times in December. He believes the spiders could emerge in New York and neighboring states this summer, or any day now.
“They seem to be fine living in a city,” Davis added, saying he has seen Joro spiders on street lamps and telephone polls, which “regular spiders wouldn’t be caught dead in.”
The poisonous arachnids are poisonous, but Coyle says they are pose no danger to humans. That poison, he said, is reserved for the critters that get caught in their webs, including butterflies, wasps and cockroaches. They can also pose a threat to native spiders.
“We have no evidence that they caused harm to any person or pet,” he said.
