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Bug United States Science

Millions of Palm-Sized, Flying Spiders Could Invade the East Coast (scientificamerican.com) 53

Posted by BeauHD from the ready-or-not-here-they-come dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: New research, published in the journal Physiological Entomology, suggests that the palm-sized Joro spider, which swarmed North Georgia by the millions last September, has a special resilience to the cold. This has led scientists to suggest that the 3-inch (7.6 centimeters) bright-yellow-striped spiders -- whose hatchlings disperse by fashioning web parachutes to fly as far as 100 miles (161 kilometers) -- could soon dominate the Eastern Seaboard. Since the spider hitchhiked its way to the northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, inside a shipping container in 2014, its numbers and range have expanded steadily across Georgia, culminating in an astonishing population boom last year that saw millions of the arachnids drape porches, power lines, mailboxes and vegetable patches across more than 25 state counties with webs as thick as 10 feet (3 meters) deep, Live Science previously reported.

Common to China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea, the Joro spider is part of a group of spiders known as "orb weavers" because of their highly symmetrical, circular webs. The spider gets its name from Jorgumo, a Japanese spirit, or Ykai, that is said to disguise itself as a beautiful woman to prey upon gullible men. True to its mythical reputation, the Joro spider is stunning to look at, with a large, round, jet-black body cut across with bright yellow stripes, and flecked on its underside with intense red markings. But despite its threatening appearance and its fearsome standing in folklore, the Joro spider's bite is rarely strong enough to break through the skin, and its venom poses no threat to humans, dogs or cats unless they are allergic. That's perhaps good news, as the spiders are destined to spread far and wide across the continental U.S., researchers say.

The scientists came to this conclusion after comparing the Joro spider to a close cousin, the golden silk spider, which migrated from tropical climates 160 years ago to establish an eight-legged foothold in the southern United States. By tracking the spiders' locations in the wild and monitoring their vitals as they subjected caught specimens to freezing temperatures, the researchers found that the Joro spider has about double the metabolic rate of its cousin, along with a 77% higher heart rate and a much better survival rate in cold temperatures. Additionally, Joro spiders exist in most parts of their native Japan -- warm and cold -- which has a very similar climate to the U.S. and sits across roughly the same latitude. [...] While most invasive species tend to destabilize the ecosystems they colonize, entomologists are so far optimistic that the Joro spider could actually be beneficial, especially in Georgia where, instead of lovesick men, they kill off mosquitos, biting flies and another invasive species -- the brown marmorated stink bug, which damages crops and has no natural predators. In fact, the researchers say that the Joro is much more likely to be a nuisance than a danger, and that it should be left to its own devices.
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Millions of Palm-Sized, Flying Spiders Could Invade the East Coast More

Millions of Palm-Sized, Flying Spiders Could Invade the East Coast

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  • The only thing slashdot is more afraid of than palm-sized flying spiders is NFTs of palm-sized flying spiders.

    • The only thing slashdot is more afraid of than palm-sized flying spiders is NFTs of palm-sized flying spiders.

      Well that's certainly one way to try and make this news for nerds, or stuff that matters.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        The only thing slashdot is more afraid of than palm-sized flying spiders is NFTs of palm-sized flying spiders.

        Well that's certainly one way to try and make this news for nerds, or stuff that matters.

        How about the time one of them tried to assassinate me? I was leaving for work at a famous high tech company when I ran into the web... Some years ago and the details have gotten fuzzy, but I may have wound up in an ambulance that morning. I was definitely on crutches for a month or two.

        Anyway, most of them don't get that big. Depends on how lucky the female is in picking a location for her web.

        (Now can someone come up with a funny joke about web versus Web?)

        • The only thing slashdot is more afraid of than palm-sized flying spiders is NFTs of palm-sized flying spiders.

          Well that's certainly one way to try and make this news for nerds, or stuff that matters.

          How about the time one of them tried to assassinate me? I was leaving for work at a famous high tech company when I ran into the web... Some years ago and the details have gotten fuzzy, but I may have wound up in an ambulance that morning. I was definitely on crutches for a month or two.

          Anyway, most of them don't get that big. Depends on how lucky the female is in picking a location for her web.

          (Now can someone come up with a funny joke about web versus Web?)

          I'm sorry...a joke you say? Female in charge? Plenty of us are still trying to figure out if this is a "non-fiction" story about Hillary Clinton...you know because where there's smoke...

    • Or how about David Thorne's spider [27bslash6.com], the OG spider NFT?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by waspleg ( 316038 )

      That's because NFTs are parasites and actual spiders eat some.

  • I live in Atlanta and (Score:3)

    by rotorbudd ( 1242864 ) on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @08:11AM (#62336023)

    I welcome our new giant spider overlords!
    Especially if they kill off the stink bugs that have also invaded.

    • When steamed or grilled, spiders taste like shrimp.

      • When steamed or grilled, spiders taste like shrimp.

        Well now...I just HATE spiders, but with this new news, I'm changing my attitude towards them.

        And, living in Louisiana, well, we'll figure some good ways to serve them up!!

        Blackened, gumbo, etoufee....

        ;)

    • People keep bringing up the stink bugs, but I didn't see any of them eat any stink bugs at all. Just webs. webs everywhere.

      • Native orb weavers are good at post mating cannibalism, incest, both combined, and at general cannibalism. Two of these grew up within 2 meters of each other, hanging their webs in front of a local store window. It was interesting to see them come out and wrap prey insects caught in the webs. One day, one of the two ventured over to its smaller sibling, fanged it, and wrapped it. Like Russia.

        I have seen brown marmorated stink bugs here. They are sort of cute, but I lost about a third of the pears from

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Especially if they kill off the stink bugs that have also invaded.

      Sorry, you are stuck with Ron DeSantis as a neighbor.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )

      Especially if they kill off the stink bugs that have also invaded.

      No kidding. If this gets confirmed please send them to the Midwest. Growing up in Florida I'm used to having big-ass orb weavers around and can live with them just fine. If they eat those bumble fuck idiot stink bugs, well, I for one welcome our new spider overlords!

  • We need more predators of mosquitoes. This is one Japanese import that few will object to. As a bonus, it will provide free Halloween decorations!

    • Few will object to?!?

      Millions of palm sized spiders?!?!!

      KILL THEM WITH FIRE!!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by EvilSS ( 557649 )
        Orb weavers are pretty benign. We had a species of them in Florida when I was growing up. Make huge, strong webs but usually they are just annoying if you trying to walk or ride down a trail where hundreds of them decide to string webs across it. We would usually have one show up when I was a kid and build a web between the pump shed and fence. I used to feed it ant lions. I don't ever recall them trying to get indoors. They seem to like it outdoors where they can sling big webs between bushes and trees.

      • It's very context-dependent.

        Millions of palm-sized spiders across the eastern seaboard? Not so bad.
        Millions of palm-sized spiders erupting from your toilet while your pants are around your ankles? Yeah, we're gonna have some issues...

  • This is totally unacceptable.

    What is Biden going to do about it? Elon Musk? Anybody ....

  • As someone with tactile defensiveness, or an aversion to particular sensations, etc (a neurological issue), this will definitely get me looking out more - as spider silk, and spider webs, are a particularly bad trigger for me.

    Ripperoni. If you want a pasty white baritone to scream like Ren Hoeck from Ren & Stimpy ... I've done it from enarly crashing into spider webs, haha

    • You don''t have to have a special disability to be afraid of spiders. What labels you've woven for yourself just make you look weird.

      • But that's the thing - it's not a fear of spiders, or spider webs even. It's an aversion to being suddenly exposed to specific sensations - like that of spider silk for my example. I actually like spiders - watching them, even letting them crawl on my hand and the like.

        It reminds me of how people mistakenly call gravitational insecurity - another neurological issue I contend with - a "fear of heights" despite it being nothing like that - and it being more spacial, a disconnect between the brain and bod
  • You have a woman's hand, milord! I'll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm.
  • pandemic, war, flying spiders ... whats next, lava rain ?

  • We have similar native orb beavers here in MO. They are beautiful to be honest. They're a bit of a nuisance it you're going hiking while they're active, since they love to spin their huge webs across the gaps between trees that trails provide.

    I once woke up to find one had built a web across the sliding door to my apartment's balcony. I let her have the balcony for the couple weeks she lived and took tons of close-up photos through the glass. Amazing stuff.

    • Please recognize the great cinematic opportunities presented by your typo "orb beavers".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Myrdos ( 5031049 )

      We have similar native orb beavers here in MO. They are beautiful to be honest.

      What is MO? Montana? I ask because I must never go there.

  • Will probably write "some pig" in Griffiti script.

  • The worst part is they swarm with their webs [reggie.net]. In Japan during spider season, they fill public parks and have spider webs everywhere. They're not like many spider species that you might not ever see.

  • I, for one, welcome our new palm-sized flying spider overlords.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      Just wait for the flying spiders to get COVID and be exposed to radiation as the result of the botched war in Ukraine, resulting in glowing flying death spiders.

  • are they delicious?

  • But this isn't even in the top 10 of bad things going on right now. Funny how the horrors of the world desensitizes you to reality.

  • I once had a pair of rather large orb weavers above my front door that I left alone due to them cleaning up the pesky bugs, even fed them some roaches. One day a common marmoset came along and decided they were grapes with legs and chowed down.

  • I was curious what normally keeps the spider population in check, in their natural habitats. I'm guessing birds like crows or ravens will realize their value on the food chain (since they use traffic to tenderize meat and open nuts). Maybe raccoons or possums too. I'd thought some reptiles might eat them too, but I don't know much about them in the SE.

    https://a-z-animals.com/animal... [a-z-animals.com]

    "What Eats Joro Spiders?

    Some birds go after Joro spiders, but there is no particular bird species that prefers them. While

  • A lot of global warming denialists were successfully deprogrammed after global warming knocked their house down, for those who escaped that, a plague of giant flying spiders should be a good wake-up call!

  • I didn't know "the golden silk spider, which migrated from tropical climates 160 years ago to establish an eight-legged foothold" were also invasive... those bastards seriously screw up all wooded trails, treed areas in the yard, etc. around here. I know arachnophobes who just about can't function during the fall when they take over. But at least they die in the winter.

    So these new bastards aren't going to ever die in the winter? Well fucking great. We'll never be able to cut grass, walk or ride a trail aga

  • Take the warning seriously.

  • ... along with a 77% higher heart rate ...

    Spiders have hearts?

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