Flying spiders on their bingo cards???
Enormous, invasive Joro spiders could spread across the Northeast, a study says. And they’re not expected to disappear anytime soon.
Since their initial sightings in Georgia in 2013 and 2014, their population in the state and other regions of the Southeast has expanded.
In the study, researchers from Clemson University determined that the species is fast expanding outside South Carolina, and data suggests they may be found in most of the eastern United States.
Full article, HERE from USA Today.
Yes, the females do grow to 4 inches across, but they don’t ‘fly’ when they’re that big. And the males are much smaller and less ‘colorful’…
And there is much panic about them…sigh
I’m betting more people will panic walking through a spider web than they will by seeing one, or being bitten. They are venomous, but it’s apparently about like a bee sting, so less dangerous than the brown recluse.
They seem to be centered in Georgia, probably came in via the port of Savannah, and are moving up the east coast. So y’all have fun with that (yay for a prevailing wind from the west)!
Oh yeah, and they supposedly ‘thrive’ in an urban environment…
Hoo boy, talk about much ado about not much. Clickbait titles and lots of nothing. Yes, these new spiders are big but the females are brightly colored and they spin orb webs of golden silk. Hi-Viz spiders, anyone? And even for the size they have tiny fangs so getting bitten will take some work.
My guess is the bites will happen when somebody who is face-first into their phone walks in to an obviously visible web and they panic.
In other news, the Mexican gentleman who “died of the bird flu” also had “chronic kidney disease, diabetes and arterial hypertension over the past 14 years”.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I am the Great and Powerful Wizard of OZ!”
Can I contribute to releasing more of them into the wild in downtown Atlanta? (asking for a friend)
Yes. Erase this comment.
We had those in Lower Alabama in 2004 when my wife and me moved back. They would string their web across the porch and in the car port. A big nothing to do about it. Just like Love-Bugs down there, a bother yes, but you are in the South, just about everything is gonna bite you, sting you, eat you. We had alligators there, big deal!
Rick- Yes, clickbait… sigh
Hereso- Interesting!
LL- LOL, yes!
Cederq- Except lovebugs WILL eat the paint off your car if you don’t get them rinsed off…ask me how I know (ex-wife didn’t for two months while I was deployed)…
” (ex-wife didn’t for two months while I was deployed)”
I assume that was at least one reason why she is an EX-wife. LOL
They remind me of the common orb spiders that live in my area. Walking through a web at night is something straight out of a horror movie. I did one night, checked out myself with a flashlight – after a brief, spastic dance for about a minute – and found a spider 4 inches in diameter running up my leg. I swung with my heavy duty flashlight, and killed the spider before it reached my waist. It took over a week for the nasty bruise from my strike to go away.
If they are anything like the other orb-spiders, their response to something big walking into their web is to run for cover.
They make walking outside by moonlight to “water the horse” something that’s better done by torchlight, but if you avoid their favourite gaps between – say – the fruit tree. and the Silky Oak, they aren’t a problem. Venomous ? Never been bitten.
Yup, we have them in our yard here in middles Georgia every late summer. They are remarkably big, but quite colorful and easy to spot during the day. Impressive webs.
Which is worse in an urban environment? That spider or a gunned up hoodie wearing velociraptor?
I’ve never liked spiders.
You all be safe and God bless.
I saw the spider story and was about to post. Miss Alabama beat me to it.
Hell, the Africanized killer bees and murder hornets will sort out the spiders quickly, will they not?
All- Thanks, and NO idea who will ‘win’ the battle of the insects.