Joro spiders likely to spread beyond Georgia(news.uga.edu)
news.uga.edu
Joro spiders likely to spread beyond Georgia
https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-georgia/
207 comments
I remember how fascinated I was by them when I first visited Japan. Public parks there have been full of them for a long time, it seems like they like a lot the way human gardening is arranging trees, i.e. their wide nets work perfectly there. I don‘t see the problem either - if you want less mosquitoes and flies here you have a pretty good solution.
This is how I feel. I love that they get the pest bugs. I don't mind them at all. I learn where their webs are by running into them one time and then going around them the next times.
Who was the professor if I may ask? He may have been mine! Etymology is a very niche community at UGA!
etymology from the greek ἔτυμος for "true"
entomology from the greek ἔντομον for "insect", the tom actually is the same tom in atom.
entomology from the greek ἔντομον for "insect", the tom actually is the same tom in atom.
This checks out:
- "The Greek word entomon, meaning “notched,” refers to the segmented body plan of the insect."
https://www.britannica.com/science/entomology
- "Etymology : From ἐν- (en-, “in”) + τόμος (tómos, “slice”)."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ἔντομος#Ancient_Greek
- "The Greek word entomon, meaning “notched,” refers to the segmented body plan of the insect."
https://www.britannica.com/science/entomology
- "Etymology : From ἐν- (en-, “in”) + τόμος (tómos, “slice”)."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ἔντομος#Ancient_Greek
Or in xkcd form: https://xkcd.com/1012/
Edward Hoebeke
Unless there are other giant yellow spiders with black legs and big webs native to Georgia, I'm almost certain I spotted these when jogging by my neighbor's house in North Georgia around 2007. It was terrifying looking, and it stuck with me.
It had to be around that time, because I moved shortly thereafter.
Anecdotal, but when I saw this headline I immediately thought back upon it.
It had to be around that time, because I moved shortly thereafter.
Anecdotal, but when I saw this headline I immediately thought back upon it.
Probably just a banana spider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavipes
Here's one from 2006 in Central Florida: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobisbob/299200141/in/datepost...
Here's one from 2006 in Central Florida: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobisbob/299200141/in/datepost...
I remember seeing a large number of "yellow garden spiders" around Alabama during the 2007 timeframe. I guess they only get up to about an inch long, I remember that my teenage self thought they were much larger...
That looks spot on!
Thanks for clarifying.
Thanks for clarifying.
There are some other yellow spiders, but nothing really compares to this one. They don't make traditional webs. They make massive ugly janky looking webs from all different directions that span across a lot of different branches. I don't think they came to be until about 3 years ago. The UGA professor says that they believe they came from a freight truck traveling up I85 as they hatched off.
The most interesting part is that they made a very strong silk that is golden and can even be collected and knitted. Ecologically is a problem. One more.
Not in GA but close enough. My guess is you saw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_aurantia
Those are the local variety. The new ones are much, much bigger.
[deleted]
Man, these things are annoying. I think I live in an area where they really started taking off, because I've seen them the last two or three summers. It seems like they are more and more every year. They make huge webs (like up to 6 ft huge, with single webs going out even further) right at or above eye level and then just sit in the middle of them. When hiking or biking trails you have to constantly keep an eye out for them or you'll constantly be walking into them.
Edit: There's a pretty good example picture of the webs in the UGA article mentioned by the main article: https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-ge...
Edit: There's a pretty good example picture of the webs in the UGA article mentioned by the main article: https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-ge...
I went trail running in Georgia several years ago and came within a few inches of running into one on its web that blocked the whole trail.
I know now from the article that they're harmless, but as a mild arachnophobe the experience was highly unpleasant.
I know now from the article that they're harmless, but as a mild arachnophobe the experience was highly unpleasant.
I pruned trees in Kununurra, Northern Australia, and there was a spider in each tree we’d cut (500/day). Harmless or not, they tend to climb once they’re on you, so those of us who are afraid of spiders would just let them climb and shook our hats while proceeding to the next tree. Yes, climb across the face. The leader didn’t bother, so spiders would fight on his hat.
Awesome experience, but a few people harmed during the summer, mostly because of the tools (and one by bees, one by green caterpillars, one by dehydration after going to work by 40°C after a night drinking - so basically all their faults as long as you value yourself). Said boss had prison experience. I tend to believe Gen Y misses the year of military service and tend to replace it with similar experiences, and the gap year in Australia is toughening for the office monkey and the nerds we were. 100% would do it again.
Awesome experience, but a few people harmed during the summer, mostly because of the tools (and one by bees, one by green caterpillars, one by dehydration after going to work by 40°C after a night drinking - so basically all their faults as long as you value yourself). Said boss had prison experience. I tend to believe Gen Y misses the year of military service and tend to replace it with similar experiences, and the gap year in Australia is toughening for the office monkey and the nerds we were. 100% would do it again.
I would watch this as an anime. Both from the POV of the humans, but first and foremost from SPIDERVISION.
You'd be disappointed. Orb weavers see quite poorly, and rely on their webs as their primary sensory modality for perceiving their surroundings. This is why they spend so little time off the web, and also why male spiders pursue such slow and painstaking courtships, plucking the web with enormous care to ensure their prospective partner recognizes their approach rather than mistaking them for prey.
On 16:9 screens? 16 screens wide, 9 screens high…
[deleted]
Time to start carrying a badminton racquet while jogging.
Sounds reminiscent of banana spiders here in Florida -- aka golden orb weaver or golden silk spider. They do the same thing with their webs, which can also be hard to see due to the coloring. (The "golden" is due to the silk's yellow color, not the spider's.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavipes
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/in467
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavipes
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/in467
Found an article that compares the two!
https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-ge...
"The study found that despite their similarities, the Joro spider has about double the metabolism of its relative, has a 77% higher heart rate and can survive a brief freeze that kills off many of its cousins. These findings mean the Joro spider’s body functions better than its relative in a cold environment.
And that means the Joros can likely exist beyond the borders of the Southeast."
"The study found that despite their similarities, the Joro spider has about double the metabolism of its relative, has a 77% higher heart rate and can survive a brief freeze that kills off many of its cousins. These findings mean the Joro spider’s body functions better than its relative in a cold environment.
And that means the Joros can likely exist beyond the borders of the Southeast."
[deleted]
Yeah these guys (well gals) can get pretty huge.
My least favorite Florida spider is also nonvenomous but I used to get bitten by the spiny orb weaver any time I was near a citrus tree.
My least favorite Florida spider is also nonvenomous but I used to get bitten by the spiny orb weaver any time I was near a citrus tree.
Huh. I have those around and didn't even know they bit. Had one living in my screened patio a week or so ago, but I think it finally figured out that it wasn't going to catch much there...
Like most spiders they tend to avoid humans. But if your chore growing up is to clean up all the rotting oranges you're going to be in their territory a bit and the bites are really uncomfortable.
The worst part was the pain would last a few hours.
The worst part was the pain would last a few hours.
Yes we have those in Georgia too. I used to see them a lot but I think the Joro might be taking over their habitat.
We've changed to that link from https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/03/09/giant-j... above. Thanks!
Your description helped me realize these are the spiders I was constantly dodging on trails outside of Puerto Vallarta last year! The webs were usually over my head on the trails, but I imagine that's only because of trail usage.
Those might have been banana spiders / golden orb weavers, which are native to the southeast US down to northern South America. They have the same web-building habit as described.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavipes
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/in467
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavipes
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/in467
As someone from near Kentucky, I hate Banana spiders. They aren’t mean, but they are terrifying if you’re scared of spiders and unlike the spiders in the OP they will bite.
I know this article and the comments are pretty light about this, but I really do wonder what they eat and what we're eventually going to hear about being muscled out of the local ecosystems as a result of their success. At least their introduction wasn't intentional, which tbh is kind of scary in itself.
Globalism: it's for spiders, too.
Globalism: it's for spiders, too.
All I could find is that we know they eat brown marmorated stink bugs[0].
"Joro spiders also appear to be able to capture and feed on at least one insect that other local spiders are not: adult brown marmorated stink bugs, an invasive pest that can infest houses and damage crops."
[0] https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-are-here-to-stay/
"Joro spiders also appear to be able to capture and feed on at least one insect that other local spiders are not: adult brown marmorated stink bugs, an invasive pest that can infest houses and damage crops."
[0] https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-are-here-to-stay/
How much would it cost to import more Joro spiders? I'll be writing to my local representatives immediately.
Cane toads in Australia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia
> In June 1935, 102 cane toads were imported to Gordonvale from Hawaii
> Since their release, toads have rapidly multiplied in population and now number over 200 million (...) but also no evidence indicates that they have affected the cane beetles for which they were introduced to prey upon.
> In June 1935, 102 cane toads were imported to Gordonvale from Hawaii
> Since their release, toads have rapidly multiplied in population and now number over 200 million (...) but also no evidence indicates that they have affected the cane beetles for which they were introduced to prey upon.
…and that’s how we end up with invasive species problems.
If they get out of hand, just bring in another species that preys on the spiders, problem solved :)
Do you need any rabbits?
Cheers from Australia
That's the beauty of it. When winter rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
For those that didn't watch the Simpsons, this is very relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuiK7jcC1fY
Just like the salmon brought into the Great Lakes to take on the alewives. Which were brought in to take on the zebra muscles[0]. Which came in [bilges from ships?].
I remember visiting the Lake Michigan dunes in Indiana in the 70s, only to encounter what appeared to the small me to be mountains of dead alewife. Ten years later, my grandfather took me salmon fishing there. I'd imagine that by now, the ecosystems of the Great Lakes bear little resemblance to what they contained 200 years ago. Sad in a way, but the whole of Earth seems destined to becoming a single, climate-based ecosystem. Island ecologies may survive for a few centuries, but the main continents are going to become very consistent, with all the world-champion species holding sway.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=878434...
I remember visiting the Lake Michigan dunes in Indiana in the 70s, only to encounter what appeared to the small me to be mountains of dead alewife. Ten years later, my grandfather took me salmon fishing there. I'd imagine that by now, the ecosystems of the Great Lakes bear little resemblance to what they contained 200 years ago. Sad in a way, but the whole of Earth seems destined to becoming a single, climate-based ecosystem. Island ecologies may survive for a few centuries, but the main continents are going to become very consistent, with all the world-champion species holding sway.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=878434...
Can human be considered an invasive species? Everywhere humans go, ecosystem disruption will soon follow.
[deleted]
I would really appreciate if they ate the Japanese beetle as well. Those things really take a toll on my orchard in May/June
There is some good news there. From an article posted in a different comment: "Joros don’t appear to have much of an effect on local food webs or ecosystems, said Andy Davis, corresponding author of the study and a research scientist in the Odum School of Ecology. They may even serve as an additional food source for native predators like birds." [0]
[0] https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-ge...
[0] https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-ge...
Spotted lanternflies with any luck
Yes was thinking the same. Tree of heaven -> lanternflies -> these spiders would be a pretty tight fable!
Here in GA, there are already multiple types of orb weaver and these are in the same niche with one exception: they will also eat stink bugs. There are also many birds who eat the orb weavers and will also eat the Joros. They basically slide right in without too much serious impact.
"They likely traveled across the globe on shipping containers, similar to the Bubonic plague."
Seems like an odd choice to compare a spider and the Bubonic plague. Wouldn't any number of invasive species have been better?
Seems like an odd choice to compare a spider and the Bubonic plague. Wouldn't any number of invasive species have been better?
The whole article is a bit tongue-in-cheek, with it's references to "terrifying" even though it also says they're harmless. And the end, where he says to build a dome over GA now before it's too late, etc. I laughed out loud a little at that last bit.
So I think the plague reference was meant as another way to exaggerate the severity of the situation for humorous effect. That was my take anyway.
So I think the plague reference was meant as another way to exaggerate the severity of the situation for humorous effect. That was my take anyway.
The whole article is a bit tongue-in-cheek, with it's references to "terrifying" even though it also says they're harmless
A spider the size of the palm of your hand sounds pretty terrifying to me no matter how harmless it is, but then I really don't like spiders of any size.
A spider the size of the palm of your hand sounds pretty terrifying to me no matter how harmless it is, but then I really don't like spiders of any size.
Ah, but they're just cute little things.
Hilarious that someone went to the trouble of downvoting you for this (comment is gray as I type this). Someone really doesn't like spiders.
The Huntsman spider in Australia is similarly harmless one might believe - a useful pest controller as well.
Until one crawls across the windshield of your car whilst driving.
I'm glad I was the driver when it happened. I can still remember the screams of my then co-pilot, however. She definitely had arachnophobia.
Until one crawls across the windshield of your car whilst driving.
I'm glad I was the driver when it happened. I can still remember the screams of my then co-pilot, however. She definitely had arachnophobia.
I was shocked to come back and now find 17 points on it. Some people are absolutely petrified by spiders, and I take great joy in taking the harmless ones and letting them crawl on my hands and so on. They're a very polarizing creature
I thought it said the size of a child's hand.
Having come across them in Japan many times, they can get as big as 10 cm across. Slightly less than a hand, but still extremely distressing when you run face-first into one.
Why do I keep reading the comments on this story?
I'm booking a one way trip to the North Pole or wherever these flying spiders aren't.
I'm booking a one way trip to the North Pole or wherever these flying spiders aren't.
Sorry bud: Spiders make up a significant portion of the animal population in the Arctic.
- https://animals.mom.com/spiders-arctic-6713.html
Looks like we're both signing up for the first one-way trip to Mars.
Looks like we're both signing up for the first one-way trip to Mars.
Some jerk is going to bring spiders and it will turn out that they're perfectly adapted to the Martian environment and it will just become the spider planet.
Somehow I made it all the way here before processing, how huge this thing is
I'm more interested in the 14th century shipping containers.
Some attempts to explore this on the worldbuilding Stack Exchange: https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/128160/wha...
Differently shaped wooden crates and barrels, mostly.
They're trying to make it sound terrifying in a fun way (I think, maybe sarcastic). It's under a heading of "Other terrifying things to know about the Joro spider" along with a bunch of other facts that are not at all terrifying.
"Invasive" is mostly a matter of perspective.
By far the most successful invasive arthropod in the Nearctic is the European honeybee, but you never really hear anyone talk about the considerable ecological harm those do, for the obvious reason that their agricultural and thus economic utility is considered far to outweigh the externalities of their cultivation.
By far the most successful invasive arthropod in the Nearctic is the European honeybee, but you never really hear anyone talk about the considerable ecological harm those do, for the obvious reason that their agricultural and thus economic utility is considered far to outweigh the externalities of their cultivation.
2022 bingo card: putin invades ukraine, oil tops 130/barrel, giant spiders fall from sky.
Money becomes worthless, housing market crashes again
The stock market goes up and down and sometimes crashes, the housing market goes up indefinitely. Nothing can stop it apparently.
I'll refer you to 2008. I suspect my future self will also refer you to 2023, but we shall see!
No one has proven that they got all the 2021 murder hornets yet either, so expect more good news on the horizon. I fully expect to see a murder hornet fly by battling a Joro spider trying to web it up this spring.
Funny thing is, that would probably be a normal sight in Japan, the country of origin for both species.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9zxNLU-ei0
(the spider lost this round, apparently)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9zxNLU-ei0
(the spider lost this round, apparently)
The big twist is that we end up nuking ourselves to get rid of the giant sky spiders.
You'd expect, according to Hollywood logic, that in the aftermath of nuke attacks the arachnids and insects become as big as horses.
Nah. Not enough oxygen in the atmosphere to support terrestrial arthropods much larger than the ones that currently live on Earth, or Jorō spiders would be much less remarkable for their size - there's only so much you can do with the relatively simple means of oxygenation that arthropods have thus far evolved.
A shame, if you ask me. Social wasps are already quite smart despite having only a few hundred thousand neurons apiece to work with; I think I'd quite like to live in a world where the largest hornets were perhaps dog-sized, with brains to match, or indeed much larger still. If nothing else, maybe people wouldn't so often look at me funny for how well I get on with wasps and spiders, as if there were some absurd betrayal of essential humanity in the simple act of not being frightened by animals compared to even the largest of which we may as well be so many walking mountains.
A shame, if you ask me. Social wasps are already quite smart despite having only a few hundred thousand neurons apiece to work with; I think I'd quite like to live in a world where the largest hornets were perhaps dog-sized, with brains to match, or indeed much larger still. If nothing else, maybe people wouldn't so often look at me funny for how well I get on with wasps and spiders, as if there were some absurd betrayal of essential humanity in the simple act of not being frightened by animals compared to even the largest of which we may as well be so many walking mountains.
Dogs and cats, living together
[deleted]
Also needs: ancient Japanese demon released from rock imprisonment...
Recommended movie on those topics: Enemy (2013)
Not sure why the article describes these as harmless? If one of them parachutes down on to my face, I'm sure I'll die of a heart attack - hopefully a quick death.
Oh man, you aren't alone. This is nightmare fuel. I would move away from the area guaranteed just to escape the possibility. As far as I know, my only fear is spiders and it makes up for being blasé about almost everything else. I still check my room before I get into bed because 2 years ago a House Spider (about the size of a pint glass hole) was on the headboard as I was minding my own business in bed. Not too long ago I had a nightmare about that. Never mind it's parachuting yellow brothers from the sky being a thing. No way.
Only young juveniles balloon; on the one hand it's how they disperse from their natal web, and on the other only a very tiny spider is light enough to balloon at all. You probably wouldn't even notice if one landed on you.
In any case, they're a lot more scared of us, and fairly so - imagine Cthulhu peering into your bedroom window, and you've got a fair picture of what it's like to be a spider who's suffered the mishap of somehow attracting human attention.
In any case, they're a lot more scared of us, and fairly so - imagine Cthulhu peering into your bedroom window, and you've got a fair picture of what it's like to be a spider who's suffered the mishap of somehow attracting human attention.
If Cthulu peered into my bedroom I'd ask him to kill the spider.
Which would avail you nothing, most likely, and this is by way of being my point: it may possibly ameliorate your fear to try to understand what an interaction between a human and a spider might be like from the spider's perspective.
I see spiders as biological robots, I don't feel the need to take on their perspective. I will scoop them up with a cup and notecard, but that's as much consideration as they're getting from me. My cat is a monster by way of comparison, and ruthless to any bugs who dare venture inside if I don't get to them first.
I think I understand why so many humans share this kind of attitude, explicitly or otherwise, but it's no less borne of culpable ignorance for that. I've made friendly acquaintance with wasps, and met spiders who proved smarter than some humans I've known, and there's nothing about those statements that should be surprising; the only reason it is, is because so few humans bother to pay any kind of real attention to the life with which we share this planet, and those few of us who do take an interest not purely motivated by selfish utility are regarded by the rest as creepy and weird.
Maybe if we took the time to get a little less bad at that, we'd get a little better at keeping healthy the ecosystems on which we also depend for survival. It's nice to think so, anyway, not that it matters; apparently it's much more important to us to go on thinking we're somehow special, privileged to dispose of all life on this planet and the planet entire as if we need never fear the slightest consequence. Hasn't this kind of foolishness already got us in enough trouble? Don't you think it'd be a good idea if we didn't keep it up and buy ourselves even more?
Maybe if we took the time to get a little less bad at that, we'd get a little better at keeping healthy the ecosystems on which we also depend for survival. It's nice to think so, anyway, not that it matters; apparently it's much more important to us to go on thinking we're somehow special, privileged to dispose of all life on this planet and the planet entire as if we need never fear the slightest consequence. Hasn't this kind of foolishness already got us in enough trouble? Don't you think it'd be a good idea if we didn't keep it up and buy ourselves even more?
Now this is some top tier virtue signalling, good lord, get over yourself. Killing a couple bugs in your house is perfectly fine. Parent even tries to let them out and that's not even good enough for you because they might harm a goddamn bug.
That's enough internet for me tonight.
That's enough internet for me tonight.
Yep, the almost absurd level of anthropomorphism is borderline brobdingnagian. It's like he's living in his own insufferable version of charlotte's web.
Well, I'm hardly going to stand here and justify myself to someone who whips out "Brobdingnagian" like it was nothing and then calls me insufferable.
Virtue signaling, hell - it's not as if I'm vegan, or even vegetarian; I value the lives of wasps and spiders, and couldn't give a damn about pigs or cows. Not a great fan of factory farming, but mainly because it's a blight on the landscape; it'll go on in any case whether or not I partake of the proceeds, so I see no reason not to get the benefit.
Everybody draws their own lines, is all, and this is one of mine.
Everybody draws their own lines, is all, and this is one of mine.
It's hard to avoid the instinct to swat when something crawls or buzzes on you.
Not sure it's a species thing though. I wouldn't jump to murder but I might swat at an uninvited person I found spinning silk behind my washing machine.
Even if they did promise to eat bugs.
Not sure it's a species thing though. I wouldn't jump to murder but I might swat at an uninvited person I found spinning silk behind my washing machine.
Even if they did promise to eat bugs.
I notice this whenever I try to pick up a spider and bring it outside the house. They want to jump off my hand as quickly as possible, and descend to the ground on a strand of silk. They have no interest in biting etc.
So the best way to bring them outside is to put a plastic cup over the spider, then carefully slide a postcard underneath the cup, and then release it outside.
So the best way to bring them outside is to put a plastic cup over the spider, then carefully slide a postcard underneath the cup, and then release it outside.
I avoid that because it risks harming the spider - the cup/card interface is basically one giant moving pinch point, and the force required to cause traumatic amputation is insignificant by human standards. But they can only secrete silk so quickly, which makes the escape thread itself very serviceable as a means of carrying them to safety - just raise your hand gradually as they extend the thread, so they don't touch down until you want them to.
It depends on the spider, too. Orb weavers are reliably fearful, which makes sense given how little they can perceive away from a web, but I've had the occasional salticid climb up to perch on my knuckles with no sign of dismay, and wait to hop off until I bring my hand close to a suitable surface.
It depends on the spider, too. Orb weavers are reliably fearful, which makes sense given how little they can perceive away from a web, but I've had the occasional salticid climb up to perch on my knuckles with no sign of dismay, and wait to hop off until I bring my hand close to a suitable surface.
Sorry dude, I'm giving them a chance with the cup and junk mail method. I'm not carrying one by the "silk". Nature is ruthless and I'm giving them a fighting chance :)
The hell of it is, I have to respect this perspective at least a tiny bit, however unwillingly, because at least you apparently don't default to wholesale murder the way people typically do. Congratulations on clearing the lowest possible bar, I guess? But you're talking to someone who once spent half an hour at the kitchen table carefully disentangling a mud dauber who'd stumbled into a blob of cat fur and couldn't free herself on her own, and then gave her a drop of sugar water and hand-carried her outside. That's my default when it comes to these small, smart animals who face danger from us through no fault of their own, and I really don't know what more can be fairly expected of me here.
[deleted]
For the record, the term murder is used specifically to refer to human on human killing and doesn't really apply to this situation.
[deleted]
I use a clear plastic cup, so I can make sure all the spider's legs are out of harm's way before I slide the postcard underneath.
I think I read somewhere that they have a tendency to leap onto objects passing underneath them that are several thousand times their mass and try to spread throughout the land.
Here's their informative, definitely-not-clickbait-fear-mongering list of bullet points later down in the article:
"* They are bright yellow, black, blue, and red and can grow up to 3 inches.
* They likely traveled across the globe on shipping containers, similar to the Bubonic plague.
* Their life cycle begins in early spring, but they get big in June and are often seen in July and August.
* They're named for Jorōgumo, a creature of Japanese folklore that can shapeshift into a woman or spider before killing its prey."
Emphasis added.
"* They are bright yellow, black, blue, and red and can grow up to 3 inches.
* They likely traveled across the globe on shipping containers, similar to the Bubonic plague.
* Their life cycle begins in early spring, but they get big in June and are often seen in July and August.
* They're named for Jorōgumo, a creature of Japanese folklore that can shapeshift into a woman or spider before killing its prey."
Emphasis added.
Worth mentioning is that it is very young spiderlings, not adults, who engage in "ballooning" to disperse from their natal web.
You don't need to worry about giant spiders with four-inch legspans falling on your head! Or not more than usually, at least - the spiders drifting out of the sky will be only at most perhaps the size of a matchhead, and even more harmless than they would be when full-sized.
You don't need to worry about giant spiders with four-inch legspans falling on your head! Or not more than usually, at least - the spiders drifting out of the sky will be only at most perhaps the size of a matchhead, and even more harmless than they would be when full-sized.
On the bright side, this spider eats those stink bugs that nothing else will touch. We will of course need something to eat the spiders
Birds eat the spiders. Then they poop on my boat. :-/
Maybe we can have some of these spiders to eat the other spiders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portia_(spider)#:~:text=Portia....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portia_(spider)#:~:text=Portia....
FYI your bing query is included in that URL (a practice which I detest)
A couple years ago I was in Tokyo and even just going up Takaosan I could see the pathway up was surrounded by what looked like these guys everywhere, you could look up and see a bunch just floating on their webs above the trail. Even on such a well traveled path you could just graze the flora on the side and you would pick up some web threads.
The thought of just going slightly off the path and basically being covered by them made me shudder.
The thought of just going slightly off the path and basically being covered by them made me shudder.
I live in an area with Joros. I don't mind spiders at all. But these joros are a pest. They take over literally everything. They will cover all your porches, trees, etc. with their webs. Their webs are massive, multi-layered, and tough.
I don't usually kill spiders or take down their webs, but I kill these guys and remove their webs whenever they build near my house. It's futile, but I do it anyway.
This article seem to say they're harmless. But I have heard reports of them harming local hummingbird population and driving local spiders out.
I don't usually kill spiders or take down their webs, but I kill these guys and remove their webs whenever they build near my house. It's futile, but I do it anyway.
This article seem to say they're harmless. But I have heard reports of them harming local hummingbird population and driving local spiders out.
> It's futile, but I do it anyway.
My neighborhood also has a spider problem, and I always wonder how futile this sort of thing is? Can you ever make a significant difference when exterminating individual pest insects?
Similar question: how many gnats are flying around the food? Is it 3, or 30?
My neighborhood also has a spider problem, and I always wonder how futile this sort of thing is? Can you ever make a significant difference when exterminating individual pest insects?
Similar question: how many gnats are flying around the food? Is it 3, or 30?
Well that’s the worst thing I’ve ever read
Georgia seemed to me like a weird place to talk about regarding big colorful spiders that may spread beyond the country, but it turns out that the USA has a state with the same name (TIL).
Yeah I panicked for a second then remembered it must be about the US state and we're safe in Europe... for now.
I'm of course happy to know they're harmless and (as far as we can tell) not horribly dangerous for the ecosystem, but speaking as someone who
A) has arachnophobia and a general fear of insects, and
B) lives completely alone and can't get someone else to deal with stuff like this for me,
would someone who lives in Georgia be willing to confirm to me whether or not they come into houses, and how serious of a game plan I need to make for dealing with them?
I deal with house centipedes/crickets[0] with Raid and then scooping up the body after they're dead. Setting up bug barriers, keeping things clean, and keeping down any other insect populations that they'd feed on seems to deal with most everything else. Tiny bugs like boxelder bugs show up rarely, and are small enough that I can squish them without much trouble, but anything bigger than an inch is tough to deal with.
So if I'm likely to find one of these on my wall in my living room (even just occasionally), I legitimately need to plan ahead and figure out a one-person strategy for killing/moving them out of my house in a way that it isn't traumatizing, and if conventional bug barriers don't work to keep them out then I need to figure out something else for reducing the likelihood of them coming in the house.
If they're just outside, that's not so much of a problem, big bugs are fine outside, although it'll likely put a bit of a damper on my willingness to go hiking in wood trails given people's descriptions of the webs.
----
[0]: Yes, I know house centipedes are positive predators to have around and shouldn't be treated as pests, but I need to be able to walk into my bathroom without worrying I'll find one on the wall.
A) has arachnophobia and a general fear of insects, and
B) lives completely alone and can't get someone else to deal with stuff like this for me,
would someone who lives in Georgia be willing to confirm to me whether or not they come into houses, and how serious of a game plan I need to make for dealing with them?
I deal with house centipedes/crickets[0] with Raid and then scooping up the body after they're dead. Setting up bug barriers, keeping things clean, and keeping down any other insect populations that they'd feed on seems to deal with most everything else. Tiny bugs like boxelder bugs show up rarely, and are small enough that I can squish them without much trouble, but anything bigger than an inch is tough to deal with.
So if I'm likely to find one of these on my wall in my living room (even just occasionally), I legitimately need to plan ahead and figure out a one-person strategy for killing/moving them out of my house in a way that it isn't traumatizing, and if conventional bug barriers don't work to keep them out then I need to figure out something else for reducing the likelihood of them coming in the house.
If they're just outside, that's not so much of a problem, big bugs are fine outside, although it'll likely put a bit of a damper on my willingness to go hiking in wood trails given people's descriptions of the webs.
----
[0]: Yes, I know house centipedes are positive predators to have around and shouldn't be treated as pests, but I need to be able to walk into my bathroom without worrying I'll find one on the wall.
Orb weavers rarely enter human dwellings, although they do quite like porches for the combination of good web substrate and the prey-attracting effect of porch lights and lit windows.
I've only had an orb weaver in the house a couple of times, and once ushered back out they typically remain so. One of them, a young red orb weaver, abseiled down from the ceiling onto my bare shoulder - I'm not sure which of us was more surprised, but even if I didn't like spiders quite well in general, I think her evident terror upon realizing her mistake would have aroused some degree of sympathy.
Most spiders you'll encounter indoors in the eastern US will be cobweb spiders, of which family black widows are by far the most famous - but also very rare, with more typically encountered cobweb spiders being quite harmless to humans. (Of course, so are widows, when given proper respect, as with the one who overwintered behind the toilet tank one year when I was ten or so. She kept to herself and so did we, and we all got along fine - and they are such beautiful creatures!) Beyond that you can expect the occasional wolf spider, salticid, or the like, these being cursorial hunters and thus not so much homebodies as spiders generally tend to be.
I've only had an orb weaver in the house a couple of times, and once ushered back out they typically remain so. One of them, a young red orb weaver, abseiled down from the ceiling onto my bare shoulder - I'm not sure which of us was more surprised, but even if I didn't like spiders quite well in general, I think her evident terror upon realizing her mistake would have aroused some degree of sympathy.
Most spiders you'll encounter indoors in the eastern US will be cobweb spiders, of which family black widows are by far the most famous - but also very rare, with more typically encountered cobweb spiders being quite harmless to humans. (Of course, so are widows, when given proper respect, as with the one who overwintered behind the toilet tank one year when I was ten or so. She kept to herself and so did we, and we all got along fine - and they are such beautiful creatures!) Beyond that you can expect the occasional wolf spider, salticid, or the like, these being cursorial hunters and thus not so much homebodies as spiders generally tend to be.
Living away from a river/woods and keeping my house relatively bug free in general means that I generally don't see any large spiders in my house at all. Some of that might be due to declining insect populations though.
We had orb weavers all over our porch growing up, slightly terrifying to enter/leave the house if you're scared of them, you had to kind of walk through this tunnel of webs to get in and out. But I think a lot of their presence was environmental factors, being in a rural area right next to a river. If these follow the same rules, I'm relieved, I already mostly know how to manage orb weavers and how to avoid them.
> I think her evident terror upon realizing her mistake would have aroused some degree of sympathy.
Important to keep in mind that arachnophobia isn't really a rational thing; I can appreciate both the beauty and usefulness of some insects/spiders, and even have contexts where seeing them doesn't frighten me. If you're going to manage insect populations in a dwelling place you kind of have to be able to think about them as being part of an ecosystem, you don't really have a choice.
But appreciating spiders or even admiring them doesn't change anything about fear of encountering them in certain situations. You can't logic your way out of an irrational fear, you just learn to manage it or you train yourself to deal with it or overcome it to at least some degree (depending on how far you're willing to go to change your instincts or avoid triggers). Telling yourself that they're not evil, or that they're harmless, or that they're more scared of you -- that stuff only really helps if those are the reasons you're afraid. But for most people, I think their reactions aren't really conscious or voluntary.
Another example is creatures like rodents. I keep pet rats, some of my relatives are pretty scared to be around them. It's not based on anything rational, they know the rats are harmless and cuddly and smart. It's just that they see the tail/hands and it freaks them out to be around them or to think about them. I'm not affected by that, I don't really understand the feeling because I don't feel any aversion to holding them or having them crawl around on me, my brain just registers them as cute. I never had to overcome anything to be able to hold them, my brain had the opposite reaction and immediately wanted to hold them as soon as I saw them. My family and I have the same information and understanding about rats, but for some of my family members there's a subconscious, emotional aversion that they have to overcome even to be in the same room, and for me there's just not.
I'm a little envious of people who don't have an innate fear of insects or instinctual fears around them. I've worked reasonably hard to get it to a manageable level where I can live alone comfortably and where I'm mostly not worried about insects most of the time, and it doesn't disrupt my life -- but that was difficult to do, it was a lot of work; definitely not quite as simple as just learning more about them.
We had orb weavers all over our porch growing up, slightly terrifying to enter/leave the house if you're scared of them, you had to kind of walk through this tunnel of webs to get in and out. But I think a lot of their presence was environmental factors, being in a rural area right next to a river. If these follow the same rules, I'm relieved, I already mostly know how to manage orb weavers and how to avoid them.
> I think her evident terror upon realizing her mistake would have aroused some degree of sympathy.
Important to keep in mind that arachnophobia isn't really a rational thing; I can appreciate both the beauty and usefulness of some insects/spiders, and even have contexts where seeing them doesn't frighten me. If you're going to manage insect populations in a dwelling place you kind of have to be able to think about them as being part of an ecosystem, you don't really have a choice.
But appreciating spiders or even admiring them doesn't change anything about fear of encountering them in certain situations. You can't logic your way out of an irrational fear, you just learn to manage it or you train yourself to deal with it or overcome it to at least some degree (depending on how far you're willing to go to change your instincts or avoid triggers). Telling yourself that they're not evil, or that they're harmless, or that they're more scared of you -- that stuff only really helps if those are the reasons you're afraid. But for most people, I think their reactions aren't really conscious or voluntary.
Another example is creatures like rodents. I keep pet rats, some of my relatives are pretty scared to be around them. It's not based on anything rational, they know the rats are harmless and cuddly and smart. It's just that they see the tail/hands and it freaks them out to be around them or to think about them. I'm not affected by that, I don't really understand the feeling because I don't feel any aversion to holding them or having them crawl around on me, my brain just registers them as cute. I never had to overcome anything to be able to hold them, my brain had the opposite reaction and immediately wanted to hold them as soon as I saw them. My family and I have the same information and understanding about rats, but for some of my family members there's a subconscious, emotional aversion that they have to overcome even to be in the same room, and for me there's just not.
I'm a little envious of people who don't have an innate fear of insects or instinctual fears around them. I've worked reasonably hard to get it to a manageable level where I can live alone comfortably and where I'm mostly not worried about insects most of the time, and it doesn't disrupt my life -- but that was difficult to do, it was a lot of work; definitely not quite as simple as just learning more about them.
I understand what you say about arachnophobia, but I also can't agree that
> appreciating them or even admiring them doesn't change anything about fear of encountering them in certain situations
because I used to be afraid of wasps and spiders, and what changed that was precisely the experience of being in close quarters with them and having opportunity to observe reactions ranging from total disinterest to mortal fear. Then I started chasing them around with a camera, in order to take macro shots from six inches away, and discovered that even in those circumstances they really couldn't care less about any human not actively antagonizing them - that the occasions of their lives mean as much to them as those of ours to us. There's a basis for empathy in that, strange as it may seem to say in respect of creatures so superficially different from us.
I suppose this is what they call "exposure therapy", when it's done deliberately rather than by happenstance. But whatever we call it, I just couldn't stay scared of these tiny animals that so determinedly and reliably did absolutely nothing to suggest they had any interest in even trying to do me what trivial and evanescent harm they possibly could. After that, it was no great stretch to notice how beautiful and intelligent they actually are.
On reflection, if anything it's odd that I ever did become afraid of wasps and spiders. After all, one of my earliest memories is that of sitting on the tailgate of my mom's truck, watching with quiet but avid interest as a mud dauber picked daintily along the slice of pizza I was holding. I also wasn't kidding when I talked elsewhere in this thread about the black widow who set up shop behind our toilet tank a few years later - that literally happened, and while perhaps I might've done my daily business elsewhere had another bathroom been available, there wasn't and it took me no real time to become entirely accustomed to the circumstance. I don't know what changed to induce in adulthood a fear that in childhood I cannot ever recall experiencing, but that's all the more reason for me to think this kind of fear must be amenable to revision.
I understand not everyone who experiences such fear will choose to try to revise it, but my experience makes it impossible for me to conclude other than that this is, however implicit, a choice. Losing that fear has certainly made me a happier person, both for its own sake and in that it's made me more able to appreciate beauty than I was before. But perhaps I've not sufficiently considered the good fortune I had in stumbling by happenstance into circumstances that made it possible for me to understand - made it impossible not to understand - how absurd that fear really was. Absent that, I don't know if I'd ever even have thought to try.
> appreciating them or even admiring them doesn't change anything about fear of encountering them in certain situations
because I used to be afraid of wasps and spiders, and what changed that was precisely the experience of being in close quarters with them and having opportunity to observe reactions ranging from total disinterest to mortal fear. Then I started chasing them around with a camera, in order to take macro shots from six inches away, and discovered that even in those circumstances they really couldn't care less about any human not actively antagonizing them - that the occasions of their lives mean as much to them as those of ours to us. There's a basis for empathy in that, strange as it may seem to say in respect of creatures so superficially different from us.
I suppose this is what they call "exposure therapy", when it's done deliberately rather than by happenstance. But whatever we call it, I just couldn't stay scared of these tiny animals that so determinedly and reliably did absolutely nothing to suggest they had any interest in even trying to do me what trivial and evanescent harm they possibly could. After that, it was no great stretch to notice how beautiful and intelligent they actually are.
On reflection, if anything it's odd that I ever did become afraid of wasps and spiders. After all, one of my earliest memories is that of sitting on the tailgate of my mom's truck, watching with quiet but avid interest as a mud dauber picked daintily along the slice of pizza I was holding. I also wasn't kidding when I talked elsewhere in this thread about the black widow who set up shop behind our toilet tank a few years later - that literally happened, and while perhaps I might've done my daily business elsewhere had another bathroom been available, there wasn't and it took me no real time to become entirely accustomed to the circumstance. I don't know what changed to induce in adulthood a fear that in childhood I cannot ever recall experiencing, but that's all the more reason for me to think this kind of fear must be amenable to revision.
I understand not everyone who experiences such fear will choose to try to revise it, but my experience makes it impossible for me to conclude other than that this is, however implicit, a choice. Losing that fear has certainly made me a happier person, both for its own sake and in that it's made me more able to appreciate beauty than I was before. But perhaps I've not sufficiently considered the good fortune I had in stumbling by happenstance into circumstances that made it possible for me to understand - made it impossible not to understand - how absurd that fear really was. Absent that, I don't know if I'd ever even have thought to try.
I mean, great, but... that's not how it works for everyone. Exposure therapy/desensitization isn't about learning a fact, it's about retraining an instinct. Not sure what I can say to convince you that I don't secretly think that spiders are malicious.
That's not to say that a phobia can't be changed; exposure therapy/desensitization/etc are all real things (both formal and informal, and both deliberate and accidental), and my arachnophobia today is not as bad as it used to be growing up. But that improvement didn't come from an intellectual process, it came from a bunch of regular hard work, practice, small exposures, and small victories to try and rewire instinctive responses in my brain, and it was (and continues to be) a very long process. If I could just stop being afraid of spiders by reading a science book or just deciding to think about them differently, then I would have already done that when I was 12 -- but fear response to a phobia isn't a conscious decision, it's an involuntary response to a stimulus, and that involuntary response for some people can be completely disconnected from their conscious thoughts about what is happening. For example, thalassophobia doesn't mean that someone hates the ocean or that they can't think it's beautiful/majestic; it just means they have a fear response when exposed to deep water.
That's not to say that a phobia can't be changed; exposure therapy/desensitization/etc are all real things (both formal and informal, and both deliberate and accidental), and my arachnophobia today is not as bad as it used to be growing up. But that improvement didn't come from an intellectual process, it came from a bunch of regular hard work, practice, small exposures, and small victories to try and rewire instinctive responses in my brain, and it was (and continues to be) a very long process. If I could just stop being afraid of spiders by reading a science book or just deciding to think about them differently, then I would have already done that when I was 12 -- but fear response to a phobia isn't a conscious decision, it's an involuntary response to a stimulus, and that involuntary response for some people can be completely disconnected from their conscious thoughts about what is happening. For example, thalassophobia doesn't mean that someone hates the ocean or that they can't think it's beautiful/majestic; it just means they have a fear response when exposed to deep water.
I was visiting family in NE Atlanta last fall. These spiders were everywhere -- coating houses, trees, power lines. And yet, they do not seem to come into homes. Even the exterminators they called said so.
Assuming you're correct, hearing this genuinely makes me feel way better.
It's not even necessarily a complete avoidance thing -- seeing a large insect when I'm outside just feels different; it's something I'm more prepped for, I'm in a different mental state. Huge boon if I'll mostly only need to worry about them when biking/walking.
It's not even necessarily a complete avoidance thing -- seeing a large insect when I'm outside just feels different; it's something I'm more prepped for, I'm in a different mental state. Huge boon if I'll mostly only need to worry about them when biking/walking.
You might want to look into 'bug grabbers'. We have one and it really does work as advertised. We use it regularly on large spiders, stink bugs, and occasional wasps.
Maybe silly question, but how do you get the insect back out in a controlled way? I assume they don't die inside of there.
I have a vacuum with a detachable wand, but I've never really used it for insects because I always felt like... now what? Can't they just crawl back out?
Also slightly skeptical of a handheld grabber or my vacuum's ability to handle a 3 inch spider, but maybe I'm overestimating their grabbing strength. I guess I could also upgrade.
I have a vacuum with a detachable wand, but I've never really used it for insects because I always felt like... now what? Can't they just crawl back out?
Also slightly skeptical of a handheld grabber or my vacuum's ability to handle a 3 inch spider, but maybe I'm overestimating their grabbing strength. I guess I could also upgrade.
I've only ever had to pull the release, and they drop out (sometimes with a little shake). Surprisingly, it's never harmed them.
We have picked up wolf spiders of that size with it. The spider reflexively plays dead and gets small but runs off on release.
We have picked up wolf spiders of that size with it. The spider reflexively plays dead and gets small but runs off on release.
Huh. Maybe I should give one a try then.
I live in SC and have seen some of these spiders. None of them have come inside our property, they like to build very large webs between trees and hangout there.
No Joro spiders inside so far. At least 50 around the house, going by webs, but none inside. They kept their distance outside.
Get a cat. End of the problem. They can't resist to hit with their paws anything that moves until it stops moving.
Pet chickens will also clean any surface of arthropods and remove the offenders. You'll need a chicken diaper, of course.
Pet chickens will also clean any surface of arthropods and remove the offenders. You'll need a chicken diaper, of course.
[deleted]
> They likely traveled across the globe on shipping containers, similar to the Bubonic plague.
Yeah, I guess that counts as a "terrifying thing" if you consider those the two things on earth that travel across the globe on shipping containers.
Yeah, I guess that counts as a "terrifying thing" if you consider those the two things on earth that travel across the globe on shipping containers.
Looks similar to a banana spider, the webs nearly alike too.
https://wikiless.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver
https://wikiless.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver
We've had them for a couple of years. They keep to themselves, eat bugs you do not want that their local cousins can't while coexisting, and make great photo subjects.
https://twitter.com/givemefoxes/status/1501615636664958976
edit to add: What I did notice is that the insect population seems to be returning after years of decline. I see more bugs around lights every year. These could be the wolves of creepy crawlies.
https://twitter.com/givemefoxes/status/1501615636664958976
edit to add: What I did notice is that the insect population seems to be returning after years of decline. I see more bugs around lights every year. These could be the wolves of creepy crawlies.
Crikey, every residential home in Australia has one of these. The golden orb weaver which is a close relative of Joro I believe. As an Australian citizen it is my duty to remind the rest of the world that we have the most deadliest snakes and spiders in the world, which makes us tough I guess...
Anyway we don't "burn them with fire" or "have heart attacks", we just leave them alone. This strategy has worked out well with humans and spiders co-existing in relative peace.
Anyway we don't "burn them with fire" or "have heart attacks", we just leave them alone. This strategy has worked out well with humans and spiders co-existing in relative peace.
You don't have to remind me. I'm from central US so we have a few dangerous species, but I'm well aware that you Australians are crazy. (If you weren't crazy you'd be living somewhere with a lot less venomous/poisonous things...)
Looks like I moved from the Southeast to Alaska just in time...
If they're that harmless then I'm kind of hoping I find some if they are in fact here. They look pretty interesting.
Looks like they'd make for some cool photos.
Looks like they'd make for some cool photos.
They won't break your skin but you'll still feel the bite.
> To humans, the Joro Spider isn’t particularly dangerous. A bite won’t kill you. It’ll hurt, though. A lot. Imagine a bee sting. It’ll hurt where you were bitten with a blister. Within a day, you’ll be fine.
https://jorospider.com/are-joro-spiders-dangerous/
https://jorospider.com/are-joro-spiders-dangerous/
All fun and games til they crawl into bed with you at night then.
I mean that's pretty harmless if they're as non-aggressive as it suggest they are.
Is the TFA implying that these spiders will climb the trees and use their webs to lower themselves from "the sky"? Because "drop from the sky" brought back memories of original Red Alert 2 trailer https://youtu.be/2YlVumsPHx4?t=80, which is now relevant even without the spiders. And it's scary.
See https://www.newser.com/story/317794/these-giant-flying-spide...:
> hatchlings are often spotted "flying" through the air on silk strands, a la the babies in Charlotte's Web
> hatchlings are often spotted "flying" through the air on silk strands, a la the babies in Charlotte's Web
That part is really not addressed at all. They can fly? To what altitude? How does a spider even fly like this in the first place?
A young spider makes a long silk string, which will be blown by the wind, together with the attached spider.
Like a human who flies using a balloon, the spider does not have any control over the flight direction. That depends on the winds.
However, the spider can control when to descend back to the ground, by gathering the silk string, like the human with the balloon, who can release the gas which fills the balloon.
Like a human who flies using a balloon, the spider does not have any control over the flight direction. That depends on the winds.
However, the spider can control when to descend back to the ground, by gathering the silk string, like the human with the balloon, who can release the gas which fills the balloon.
[deleted]
Adult spiders become too heavy to be able to fly again.
Those who fly using silk strings are very young and small.
Those who fly using silk strings are very young and small.
just like the North Carolina Wolf spider making its way to Sacramento, California in 1965 where UC Davis first detected them as reported to them by us.
I blame an Allied moving van giving them a ride of ours from NC to CA.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogna_carolinensis
I blame an Allied moving van giving them a ride of ours from NC to CA.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogna_carolinensis
Good lord, the Wikipedia picture makes them look much scarier than they are in person. Never had any problems with seeing them up close, but man that picture gives me the heebie-jeebies.
For those unfamiliar with wolf spiders, on my size-of-paper-I-would-pick-one-up-with scale of spider scariness, wolf spiders rank somewhere between "playing card" and "business card." (For reference, Joros are somewhere around "birthday card.") That Wikipedia picture weighs in at an impressive "flattened cereal box (family size)"
For those unfamiliar with wolf spiders, on my size-of-paper-I-would-pick-one-up-with scale of spider scariness, wolf spiders rank somewhere between "playing card" and "business card." (For reference, Joros are somewhere around "birthday card.") That Wikipedia picture weighs in at an impressive "flattened cereal box (family size)"
> [The spiders] are harmless to humans as their fangs are too small to break human skin
I thought the whole "small fang" thing was a myth? Haven't we all heard of a local spider which is very poisonous but has fangs that are too small?
Does anyone know if the "small fang" thing is true? And does the spider have venom if it is able to bite?
I thought the whole "small fang" thing was a myth? Haven't we all heard of a local spider which is very poisonous but has fangs that are too small?
Does anyone know if the "small fang" thing is true? And does the spider have venom if it is able to bite?
> Does anyone know if the "small fang" thing is true? And does the spider have venom if it is able to bite?
Virtually all spiders are venomous, but many can't penetrate human skin and many have venom that isn't dangerous to humans at the dosage injected.
Virtually all spiders are venomous, but many can't penetrate human skin and many have venom that isn't dangerous to humans at the dosage injected.
Spiders are venomous to insects. Actually, that venom is basically saliva, if I remember correctly, designed to digest the prey not to kill it (like us, spiders digest in part outside of their body - we cook, they inject their saliva).
> Of around 50,000 spider species known, only about 25 (1/20 of 1%) have venom capable of causing illness in humans
From: https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/biology...
> Of around 50,000 spider species known, only about 25 (1/20 of 1%) have venom capable of causing illness in humans
From: https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/biology...
I once walked down a street that had hundreds of them. Being bored and interested in spiders, I picked up a twig to provoke them a bit and see how they responded.
Some of them would furiously try to bite the stick and I could feel their fangs scraping on it. So I can’t quite say whether they’re strong enough to break the skin, but they’re strong enough to send vibrations down a 2 foot long stick.
Some of them would furiously try to bite the stick and I could feel their fangs scraping on it. So I can’t quite say whether they’re strong enough to break the skin, but they’re strong enough to send vibrations down a 2 foot long stick.
I think they're quite common in rural villages in Korea, but I never heard anyone poisoned by them. You are probably safe. (Now, murder hornets are a different story...)
Why are there so few insects and spiders in San Francisco?
In any other city in the world, I encounter insects with 10-100x the frequency.
In any other city in the world, I encounter insects with 10-100x the frequency.
There are lots of spiders in the Bay Area, including here in SF. But definitely fewer of other insects compared to other places I've lived.
I think it is partially the cool weather that slows them down and the long dry season. It seems especially hard on the typical flying insects that tend to annoy people. Most of the insect life I've seen prefers to root around deep in the topsoil where it is presumably warmer and not as dry.
I think it is partially the cool weather that slows them down and the long dry season. It seems especially hard on the typical flying insects that tend to annoy people. Most of the insect life I've seen prefers to root around deep in the topsoil where it is presumably warmer and not as dry.
It's the dry climate.
Western Europe is similar. Coming from New England it blew my mind they barely even know what insect screens are in France/Germany/Switzerland. Just an unbelievable lack of insects compared to the eastern US.
Western Europe is similar. Coming from New England it blew my mind they barely even know what insect screens are in France/Germany/Switzerland. Just an unbelievable lack of insects compared to the eastern US.
Spiders and Argentine ants. Those are the only insects I consistently see in SF. Nothing in comparison to the Southeast though... I do not miss the mosquitoes and roaches.
> Why are there so few insects and spiders in San Francisco?
There used to be a lot. Half of all insect species are in decline. San Francisco State has researchers monitoring the decline of the insect population in the city itself. One of them can be reached for further comment:
Gretchen LeBuhn https://biology.sfsu.edu/faculty/lebuhn
There used to be a lot. Half of all insect species are in decline. San Francisco State has researchers monitoring the decline of the insect population in the city itself. One of them can be reached for further comment:
Gretchen LeBuhn https://biology.sfsu.edu/faculty/lebuhn
Even the insects can't afford to live there.
What I've often found fascinating with spiders is how we text to them.
I came to believe that it's an actual bug in our brain, similar to the one that makes us sneeze in sunlight, but deeper, towards shape recognition or something.
Anyone knows if this has been researched already?
>They likely traveled across the globe on shipping containers, similar to the Bubonic plague.
Ah yes i heard of that, the Bubonic plague traveled in/on? shipping containers.
Is that a stupid AI or a stupid Human who writes articles like that?
Ah yes i heard of that, the Bubonic plague traveled in/on? shipping containers.
Is that a stupid AI or a stupid Human who writes articles like that?
Can you eat them? I dont know why we dont eat more insects, but it seems super good ROI.
I tried to grow crickets to make flour out of them, but it was much harder than I thought, those spiders seem easier, and are also meatier.
I tried to grow crickets to make flour out of them, but it was much harder than I thought, those spiders seem easier, and are also meatier.
What did you find difficult about raising crickets? I remember as a kid I had a lizard and a cricket box for feeding and it was just a matter of adding cricket food and cardboard tubes (disregarding the one "dropped the box of crickets on the ground and all the crickets escaped into the kitchen" incident, to be fair). That said, I wasn't trying to raise human-food-grade crickets, lizards are probably less picky.
Everything else in this comment aside, what are you planning to feed them if you don't want to grow bugs like crickets?
I was kind of hoping they find their own food :)
Desperately hoping that this response means you want to catch them from the wild or around your property, and not that your house naturally contains a volume of insects large enough to support a nontrivial population of these things. :)
> are also meatier
Wait til you hear about chickens, or deer!
Wait til you hear about chickens, or deer!
My biggest fear is inadvertently walking through a thick spider web and having it wrap around my face and body with the spider crawling all over me oh god starting to twitch thinking about it..
Global pandemic... geopolitical tension... giant spiders now?!?!?!
Maybe the murder hornets will save us from the spiders? Or are the spiders supposed to save us from the murder hornets?
Sparrow hornets and orb weavers aren't too likely to interact.
In theory the spider might prey on the hornet, but sparrow hornets are large and strong enough that I suspect it would take a very busy spider to envenom one, and avoid being stung in the process, before the hornet broke free of the web. Too, wasps and hornets see much more acutely than many realize, and likely have a decent chance of seeing and dodging webs - I did once see a bumblebee caught in a red orb weaver's web, but never yet a wasp or hornet, for whatever that's worth. (I have seen a drunk bald-faced yellowjacket sleeping it off on my porch, with an orb weaver web in direct line between her and the fig tree, but I don't know that she didn't get there before the spider had spun her web for the night.)
Sparrow hornets also aren't known yet to have made it east of the Rockies, and the intervening terrain would be very difficult for them at least, more likely impossible. That said, they and Jorō spiders hail from much the same origin and may regularly share territory, in which case their relationships are probably fairly well known - I'd likely be able to say more here, except that I don't read Japanese and thus can't review the relevant literature.
In theory the spider might prey on the hornet, but sparrow hornets are large and strong enough that I suspect it would take a very busy spider to envenom one, and avoid being stung in the process, before the hornet broke free of the web. Too, wasps and hornets see much more acutely than many realize, and likely have a decent chance of seeing and dodging webs - I did once see a bumblebee caught in a red orb weaver's web, but never yet a wasp or hornet, for whatever that's worth. (I have seen a drunk bald-faced yellowjacket sleeping it off on my porch, with an orb weaver web in direct line between her and the fig tree, but I don't know that she didn't get there before the spider had spun her web for the night.)
Sparrow hornets also aren't known yet to have made it east of the Rockies, and the intervening terrain would be very difficult for them at least, more likely impossible. That said, they and Jorō spiders hail from much the same origin and may regularly share territory, in which case their relationships are probably fairly well known - I'd likely be able to say more here, except that I don't read Japanese and thus can't review the relevant literature.
No no, the murder hornets and spiders are supposed to distract each other so that the bear-sharks can finally rise from the depths and conquer the mainland.
Murder hornets to the west, giant spiders to the east. Take your chances with the tornados in middle America.
You'd hope the spiders will feast on other exotic invasive insects like Spotted Lanternfly and Gypsy Moths but inevitably they will eat everything local instead.
It’s interesting to see the vivid colors that they evolved to develop. Could it be they were mimicking poisonous spiders? To prevent predators from eating them.
I want that. In my vineyard here in Ontario. Eating copious quantities of Japanese Beetles.
Can they survive -20C?
Can they survive -20C?
> This is the first article by Axios Richmond's Karri Peifer
Looking at the headline and the comparison to bubonic plague (which apparently spread via shipping containers several centuries ago), I wonder if it's just a first article or Axios's future direction.
Looking at the headline and the comparison to bubonic plague (which apparently spread via shipping containers several centuries ago), I wonder if it's just a first article or Axios's future direction.
The link has since been updated to the more informative and less sensational University of Georgia article.
For those wondering what this comment is referencing, here is the original article: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/03/09/giant-j...
For what it's worth, I got a chuckle out of the original. I can definitely appreciate the sentiment, as I have unknowingly walked into a quite few Joro spider webs and it never fails to creep me out.
For those wondering what this comment is referencing, here is the original article: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/03/09/giant-j...
For what it's worth, I got a chuckle out of the original. I can definitely appreciate the sentiment, as I have unknowingly walked into a quite few Joro spider webs and it never fails to creep me out.
While we brag about our boats and flying machines they do all that.
This is why I'll never live south of the 47th parallel
Me Googles "how to make diy flamethrower"
[deleted]
Do we really need these clickbait headlines on Hacker News? For a while, this was a refuge from that garbage.
If they come far enough north, maybe we can recruit them to turn the tide in the war against the spotted lanternfly.
Giant alien spiders are no joke!
NBD if you have clone bay though.
Giant alien spiders aren't real, friend. https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub
There is no water on Earth for giant insects!
Almost 4(edit) years later, when you go outside on a misty morning during the summer, you look up into the trees as you drive home and it is literally nothing but glimmering Joro spider webs. Thousands of them.
Most of them now appear in my back yard as I removed those trees, but it was crazy to see peoples faces when they walked to my front door and realized what they were walking past and freaked out at a 3 inch spider about 5 foot away from them.
edit: when I looked up the UGA professor name I realized I emailed it back in September 2018! Crazy.