Christina Butler via Wikimedia Commons
“These spiders are the size of your palm, they use their web like a parachute, and here’s the kicker: they might soon be found in New York City,” the Weather Channel reported on Monday.
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Joro spiders (trichonephila clavata) are native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China, and in 2013 or 2014, they were first spotted in southeastern states like Georgia. They’ve since expanded to states including Tennessee, Maryland and Oklahoma, and according to scientists from Rutgers University and the University of Georgia (among others), they’re likely on their way to New York and New Jersey.
While the invasive species may look intimidating – they are “hair-raising if you do not like spiders,” writes the New York Times – they’re harmless to humans and pets and prefer to dine on insects.
Not only that, but they prey upon another invasive species: the spotted lanternfly, which ordinary citizens have been instructed to murder since they arrived to the Big Apple in 2021.
If the joro spider does indeed arrive, perhaps it will do our dirty work for us.
“Right now, we are seeing them dispersing into Maryland, so soon enough, possibly even next year, they should be in New Jersey and New York,’’ Rutgers ecologist José R. Ramírez-Garofalo told SI Live earlier this month. “It is a matter of when, not if.”
I believe the word you’re looking for is “ewwww”.
Should we kill these if we see them? Them eating the spotted lantern flies would be good but that can’t be all they eat.
They are non-venomous to humans. In Japanese folklore they are known to transform into a beautiful woman and seduce men… They will even kill black widows…
NO,,,They kill venomous species,,JAPANESE SPOTTED BUTTER FLIES..Remember them?