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Spiders

Scared of the palm-sized Joro spider? What to know about the ballooning, 'beautiful spiders'

  • The Joro spider has drawn all sorts of reaction on social media
  • The colorful spider's leg length is 6-to-8 inches, but only females get that big
  • The spiders may not just crawl up the East Coast – it's "possible" they go West, too

With a palm-sized frame and yellow stripes on its back, the Joro spider has become a name that sees your dreams and feasts on your screams after a study concluded the species could soon migrate up the East Coast

The spider, originating from Asia, was first spotted in Georgia in 2013 and the population has flourished since then, appearing throughout the state and in other parts of the Southeast. 

The spider is venomous, but doesn't pose a threat to humans because their fangs are so small they don't penetrate human skin. Plus, they don't bite unless they are cornered. Still, the Joro spider seems like the last thing people want to see, and people on social media have made it known. 

William Hudson, entomologist at the University of Georgia, said people shouldn't be frightened of the spider at all, and in the event they ever cross your path, admire them.

"They're just spectacular. They're beautiful spiders," Hudson told USA TODAY. "They're really pretty, but they are also very large, and that's what gets people's attention."

Here is everything to know about Joro spiders:

How big do Joro spiders get?

The images you see of the big, colorful Joro spiders are the females, as the males are rather small.

Adult females will have legs around three inches long, so if you flatten them out, their leg span is around 6-to-8 inches, the average size of an adult human palm.

Hudson said the female's abdomen will usually be full of eggs, so it will be around the size of your thumb. If you're able see underneath, the spider has a black and gold checkerboard pattern with red splotches. 

The jorō spider is seen in Johns Creek, Ga., on Oct. 24, 2021.

Ballooning, not parachuting

Of the many reasons why people aren't fond of the Joro spider, one popular pick is the spider's ability to parachute, when it appears to just float in the air, allowing it to travel farther distances in quicker time. 

Hudson said the spiders don't parachute, but rather balloon. He noted most web spiders do some form of this, but the Joro spider will leave an elevated spot and release a strand of silk. If the silk gets long enough, it can pick it up and carry them through the air for up to 100 miles.

"They just go wherever the wind takes them, but they can go a long way if they're under the right conditions," Hudson said.

Another comforting note for people: only not-palm sized Joro spiders do this, because the bigger they get, the harder it is for the silk to carry them around. The young spiders are typically not easy to see either.

Could Joro spiders make it to the East Coast?

In a recently published study in the journal Physiological Entomology, scientists from the University of Georgia said the Joro spider could eventually make its way north up the East Coast. 

The scientists came to the conclusion by comparing it to another invasive species in the southeast and close relative, the golden silk spider. The golden silk spider also is all over the Southeast, but hasn't gone North because it's susceptible to the cold. During their research, scientists discovered the Joro spider did far better in freezing conditions than its relative, paving the way for a possible migration. 

While the study noted people shouldn't definitively say the spider will end up in the East Coast, Hudson said "it's certain" they will eventually. He noted that the species thrives in northern Japan, which has similar conditions to eastern United States.

"They certainly could be expected at least to be able to survive and perhaps thrive anywhere in the eastern half of the U.S.," Hudson said. "There's nothing really to stop them from expanding their range."

Could Joro spiders go West?

A lot of the panic is coming from the East, but is there a chance the Joro spider could make it through the Great Plains and all the way to the Pacific? Hudson says it's possible.

"There's absolutely nothing that I see that would keep them from being able to do that. But who knows after that. It might take 50 or even 100 years. But then again, it might only take 20," he said.

Are Joro spiders bad for the environment?

A reason why the Joro spider has been able to flourish in Georgia is because not because of the climate, but the surplus of bugs located in the south, Hudson said. 

What helps are the webs they create. They are orb-weaver spiders, meaning they create spiral shaped webs. Think of the symmetrical, round webs in "Charlotte's Web," but on a bigger scale. 

Since the spider is bigger, it needs a stronger web to support it, and a stronger web can trap almost any prey.

"There's not very many of our web spiders that can catch a bumblebee or carpenter bee. These can," Hudson said. 

Despite the wide variety of bugs the spider eats, Hudson said it is unknown how they affect the ecosystem, but it doesn't appear to be negatively.

"Even as many insects as those webs might catch, they can't begin to compete with the windshield of a car going down the highway," he said. 

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What should you do if you see a Joro spider?

If there is any negative affect the Joro spider has on humans, its the inconvenience of walking into one of their webs, Hudson said, as they are known to live and colonize in backyards.

What's his advice to those seeing one for the first time?

"You can go over and admired it, you can get as close as you want to get a really good picture with your cell phone," Hudson said. "They are really cool, and they are beautiful. Absolutely beautiful spiders."

The spider isn't a strong biter, so "they're completely harmless" Hudson said, as he's held them numerous times, and his grandchildren even hold them. 

But they can get annoying. The spider had one of its biggest population booms in 2021, so they were more prevalent around the Peach State, so if it seems there is just too many or you're terrified of spiders, just move them to the backyard.

"They are every bit as pretty as any flower that you might plant in your yard," Hudson said. "We try to tell people they're just backyard wildlife."

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

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