IIf you live in the New Jersey and New York area, get ready: Giant venomous spiders could soon be flying your way.
In January, the company Pest Control in New Jersey warned the public that Joro spiders native to East Asia have spread to the southeastern United States and were expected to move north to the New Jersey area later in the year. The invasive species have wingspans of up to 10 centimeters and yellow and black bodies, according to the company. Although Joro spiders are venomous, their venom is not dangerous to humans, Gothamist reported.
“These spiders are hard to miss,” the company said. “What sets them apart, however, is their ability to fly, an unusual trait among spiders.”
The company clarified that spiders do not fly like birds, but use a technique called “ballooning”, which consists of releasing silk threads into the air and being carried by the wind.
Experts suspect the spiders arrived in the U.S. because they were accidentally transported through cargo shipments, international trade or personal travel, according to the company. While it’s unclear exactly how they were brought to the U.S., “the consequences of their arrival are becoming increasingly evident,” New Jersey Pest Control said. Georgia is believed to be “ground zero” for the Joro spider invasion.
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Last year, University of Georgia biologist Andy Davis, who studies Joro spiders, said To New York Times that the arachnids could arrive in New York in the summer, but none have been spotted yet.
David Coyle, assistant professor in the department of forestry and environmental conservation at Clemson University and one of the authors of a peer-reviewed study about spiders that was published last autumn, had already said in a Clemson University press release that “these things are here to stay”. The study found that Joro spiders will be able to inhabit most of the eastern US. Coyle has as long as it is clarified that there is no set timeline for when the spiders might arrive on the East Coast.
“I believe Joro *has the ability* to spread beyond the Southeast based on the environmental conditions of its native range. In terms of deadline… it doesn’t exist. It could be this year. It could be a decade. Heck, it might not even happen,” Coyle told PIX11 News. “The rate of spread depends on many factors, some environmental, some human, some that are just spider biology.”
Linda Susan Rayor, a senior lecturer and senior research associate in the entomology department at Cornell University who has written about the spiders, told PIX11 News that she didn’t believe the spiders would arrive in New York this summer “unless people moved them” because “ they are unlikely to swell for many hundreds of kilometers.”
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This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
