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Giant parachuting spiders are reportedly expected to spread across the East Coast in the coming years, according to a recent study.
Joro spiders, which are typically found in Asia, are reported to be present in the Carolinas. Clemson University researchers found that the yellow-and-black insects have expanded and reside within a 75,000-square-mile ecosystem spanning North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia since initially being brought over to the U.S. on shipping containers nearly a decade ago.
The spiders, which are capable of growing to be the size of a human palm, are reported to be migrating north, having been spotted in Maryland while riding their parachutes.
“And not only that; they are spreading like wildfire,” the Clemson University researchers noted in the study. “Data shows that this spider is going to be able to inhabit most of the eastern US.”
The spiders have no natural predators in America, unlike their native Asia, which allows them to get more food and potentially expand in numbers. The Joro spider is an indiscriminate eater and capable of consuming anything that gets trapped in its web, according to researchers.
“These spiders don’t seem to care what gets in their web; they’re just as likely to eat brown marmorated stink bugs as they are to eat a Monarch butterfly," said lead researcher David Coyle. "To say they’re more beneficial than another spider is just simply wrong — they’re a spider — and if something gets caught in their web, it’s going to get eaten. And they don’t care if it’s a rare native pollinator and there are only a few of them left in the world or if it’s a brown marmorated stink bug,” he said. “It’s six of one or half-dozen of another — it’s the same thing to that spider — it’s prey.”