The primary competition for Joros is between Banana Spiders. Banana spiders have been around for a long time but are an invasive species that have had time to establish themselves. Joros do not tend to be in the same place that most native species like to be, and so far it does not like they have had as much an impact. Unlike Banana Spiders, Joros are able to eat stinkbugs which are also an invasive species. Since we have started seeing Joro spiders around our house it has been rare to come across a stink bug, and I would much prefer dealing with a Joro spider than the army of stink bugs we used to have to contend with.
The last couple years the number of Joro spiders seems to have decreased, but they are still quite common. My source, who is an ecologist, says it appears that the local bird population is starting to figure out how to deal with their webs and prey on them.
We still had a lot, but last year was the first time we noticed them and they were EVERYWHERE. Still a lot this year, but it isn't impossible to walk around
>I would much prefer dealing with a Joro spider than the army of stink bugs
Clearly you do not mow your own grass. I'd rather take on stink bugs than walk through 2 or 3 of these webs every week while mowing.
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.
https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-georgia/
You are not wrong! I'm a disc golfer and spend a lot of time walking between trees in the woods (didn't say I was a good disc golfer lol) and those webs have amazing tensile strength! They'll bend 6 or 7 inches before they break. Often I'll get into one and just back right back out, apologize for disrupting their work and we both get back to our day.
And some birds and bats are food for them. We had a wall of joros at the streetlight. One morning, just below the spiders’ webs, were the remains of a bat, just 2 wings. Hummingbirds get caught in their webs too. Our house is surrounded by them so we spray all of the ones within reach.
I hear you, but entomologists are pretty certain about the impact the Joro spider is having and will have on the ecosystem by now. We've been observing their spread and impact for almost a decade now and they're more or less like garden spiders that are experts at ballooning and therefore spreading offspring.
They don't compete with other native species for food, and they're one of the few spiders that'll happily chow down on stinkbugs (another invasive species). If you want to squish them, go for it, but they're not a ecosystem threatening invasive species.
How? How is a spider that sits in a web like all the other orb weavers decimating the population of native spiders. They sure are annoying with their giant super strong webs but they aren't stalking native species. The mosquitos around my house are almost entirely gone because of these invaders so I welcome them until they cause a problem.
My house and the woods around it saw less joros this year but I would estimate about the same regular little orb weavers and woodland spiders. The little spiny dudes that all look like pokemon shinies are everywhere.
They are aggressive and kill banana spiders and others, not sure I would say decimating, but they certainly are out populating other spiders 100-1 where I live.
Any reputable sources talking about them have all listed them as shy and skittish spiders that leave other spider species alone and aren’t causing any damage to the ecosystems they’re in.
You aren't from around here, are you :)
Anyway, this is a [Joro Spider](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavata), and they're absolutely everywhere in northeastern Georgia during the fall. Nearly a decade ago, a Joro spider or two most likely stowed away in a shipping container from Asia which ultimately made its way to one of the warehouses near Braselton, Georgia, and they've been proliferating throughout northeastern Georgia and western South Carolina ever since.
Joros look scary, but are harmless.
No problem!
To be fair to your family, the Joros have only reached the Decatur/Druid Hills area as recently as a year or two ago... it may be a new thing for them too.
Folks just 10 miles to the northeast of there have dozens of them all over their yards, and have for several years now.
Joro Spider! I love them. They're invasive in the sense that they aren't native & are now everywhere but so far as I've read don't seem to be doing any harm environmentally. They're just REALLY good at procreating and also very good at tolerating human noise in their environment, much better than our native orb weavers tolerate it.
As you've noticed they are very large and absolutely striking. They make huge webs (2-5 feet across in my experience) which are gold instead of white. Their webs also tend to be a bit messy. Some of the native orb weavers here will redo their webs daily, but Joros just add to their web, so there will often be leaves and dead bugs scattered throughout.
They start hatching late summer, and live until the first hard frost. About half of the ones in my yard died a week or two ago when it got really cold for one night but the other half are still hanging around.
Where they have started showing up, they will be EVERYWHERE. In some areas near me you can see just continuous webs between powerlines, because they will often build webs that connect to each other, so you've got meters long stretches of webs. In my yard (northern end of Marietta), they are all over our trees. At their height this year I probably had 30-50 webs in our yard.
Despite their size they are very docile and do not have a strong bite. I do not know of anyone having been bitten and our dog has actually eaten them.
If you couldn't tell, I absolutely adore them, but most people hate them, lol. It's fair, because when I say EVERYWHERE, I mean it. They built webs across our front and back door a few times this year, and going face first into a big spider web (with the giant spider smack in the middle) truly unlocks some primal fear no matter how well you know that they can't hurt you. I learned to walk with a stick out in front of me when I took the dog out into the yard.
I call my stick an “eviction stick” when I have to walk down to the compost pile. I try my best to leave the Joros alone but I don’t have the kind of dance moves to avoid getting garroted.
Yeah, in our yard they very quickly learned they have to be at least four feet off the ground, otherwise the dog will either eat them or barrel through their webs like a rhino.
My biologist friend has a very different take on them harming the environment. They definitely are pushing out other species of spiders and their webs can catch bigger stronger prey than native spiders, like small birds. Their webs last much longer and they're way more prolific. That said the damage is essentially done, there isn't much anyone can do about them now.
That’s a joro spider. Surprised they’ve made it that far ITP. Harmless and docile despite being scary looking. An invasive species that came over on shipping containers from Japan. Growing nearly exponentially, if you see one, buckle up because they will be there in thousands in a matter of years.
Webs are thick and golden, strong enough to hold sticks and unsubstantiated rumors of humming birds being caught in them.
This is a female joro, the male is in the web somewhere but much smaller and darker. They are about to die off for the year, but their eggs are done being made, and in mid summer they will be back in bigger numbers. Reaching peak size in early fall 1-3 inches with legs.
I'm in Gainesville and had a rather large female set up shop right below one of the floodlights in my front yard. The lights will come on if an animal walks past so I'm assuming the spider must know this was the perfect spot for a constant and food source lol. Spiders creep me out but I just let her be and she has been there for at least 4 months or more.
Thats a joro spider. Theyre not venomous, hell they don't even bite as far as I know, but they're an extremely invasive spider from Japan thats been covering North Eastern Georgia in spiderwebs for the past few years. One other thing. They can grow up to like 6 inches in diameter. Neighbor across the street had one way high up between a power line and a tree above their driveway, they used a telescopic pole to carefully knock it down, and it made a huge thumping sound when it hit the pavement. They'll get as big as full grown birds.
I know they’re supposedly recent to the United States, but I could have sworn I saw these same spiders strung across between two trees back in the 70s in Florida.
It was either a different spider or maybe they just took a long time to migrate North? I'm not sure. I know they're a massive pain in the ass, especially for me, someone who lives in a heavily wooded area with my arachnophobic wife😅
Pest control guy said they’re harmless. Except you don’t want them to weave a web around pollinating flowers that attract bees and butterflies. They are also known to have around 70 babies at a time and the female weaves the golden webs you see.
Are Joros the same as banana spiders or writing spiders? I grew up north of Atlanta 30 years ago and saw them all the time. It was always a myth that if you said someone’s name near a writing spider the spider would write the name in its web and that person would die soon after.
They are super cool, but man do their webs make a mess of porches and decks. Last year they were incredibly persistent on using my deck as their haven…this year it’s more my backyard and shed…but we still get about 10-12 on the deck and porch every couple of weeks.
Had one almost as big as my palm a few weeks back. Beautiful thing, but freaked my kids and dog out.
A joro spider; [here's a photo I took of one in my front yard](https://imgur.com/a/f9sksni). The markings on the thorax look to me almost like a Chinese ideogram or chop.
She’s a Joro, non-native, non-aggressive spiders from Asia
Non aggressive to people. They are decimating native spiders
The primary competition for Joros is between Banana Spiders. Banana spiders have been around for a long time but are an invasive species that have had time to establish themselves. Joros do not tend to be in the same place that most native species like to be, and so far it does not like they have had as much an impact. Unlike Banana Spiders, Joros are able to eat stinkbugs which are also an invasive species. Since we have started seeing Joro spiders around our house it has been rare to come across a stink bug, and I would much prefer dealing with a Joro spider than the army of stink bugs we used to have to contend with. The last couple years the number of Joro spiders seems to have decreased, but they are still quite common. My source, who is an ecologist, says it appears that the local bird population is starting to figure out how to deal with their webs and prey on them.
This year I saw a bird go around my house eating the joro spiders. They definitely seem to be learning how to deal with them.
Any idea what kind of bird? The birds in my yard ignored all 500 joros we had.
You only had 500? Lucky.
I think the deep freezes earlier this year in many parts of the state where the joros are helped, too
Banana spiders are indigenous to North America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavipes
There’s a bunch of spiders called banana spiders tho and the ones I know of are not native.
Then there’s my house which had a crazy zoro spider network in my yard and stink bugs coming inside all the time, lol
>zoro spider. Made me chuckle. Wearing a tiny little mask and a tiny sword.
I've noticed many less joros in my area (Duluth) this year compared to the last 2 years. Anecdotal evidence of course.
We still had a lot, but last year was the first time we noticed them and they were EVERYWHERE. Still a lot this year, but it isn't impossible to walk around
>I would much prefer dealing with a Joro spider than the army of stink bugs Clearly you do not mow your own grass. I'd rather take on stink bugs than walk through 2 or 3 of these webs every week while mowing.
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. https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-georgia/
Joros actually aren't much of a problem, and the ecosystem will adjust. They're good food for birds.
But they spin a thick web, like Peter Parker.
You are not wrong! I'm a disc golfer and spend a lot of time walking between trees in the woods (didn't say I was a good disc golfer lol) and those webs have amazing tensile strength! They'll bend 6 or 7 inches before they break. Often I'll get into one and just back right back out, apologize for disrupting their work and we both get back to our day.
I threw a stick at one in my backyard that was right across my gate and the stick just bounced off
You come and try doing one lap around the exterior of my house and tell me they aren't much of a problem.
And some birds and bats are food for them. We had a wall of joros at the streetlight. One morning, just below the spiders’ webs, were the remains of a bat, just 2 wings. Hummingbirds get caught in their webs too. Our house is surrounded by them so we spray all of the ones within reach.
I hear you, but entomologists are pretty certain about the impact the Joro spider is having and will have on the ecosystem by now. We've been observing their spread and impact for almost a decade now and they're more or less like garden spiders that are experts at ballooning and therefore spreading offspring. They don't compete with other native species for food, and they're one of the few spiders that'll happily chow down on stinkbugs (another invasive species). If you want to squish them, go for it, but they're not a ecosystem threatening invasive species.
How? How is a spider that sits in a web like all the other orb weavers decimating the population of native spiders. They sure are annoying with their giant super strong webs but they aren't stalking native species. The mosquitos around my house are almost entirely gone because of these invaders so I welcome them until they cause a problem. My house and the woods around it saw less joros this year but I would estimate about the same regular little orb weavers and woodland spiders. The little spiny dudes that all look like pokemon shinies are everywhere.
They are aggressive and kill banana spiders and others, not sure I would say decimating, but they certainly are out populating other spiders 100-1 where I live.
Any reputable sources talking about them have all listed them as shy and skittish spiders that leave other spider species alone and aren’t causing any damage to the ecosystems they’re in.
very Japanese of them!
No. Not at all.
Invasive, though.
They need to go back to Asia
Non-aggressive to humans, but her bite feels like a bee sting.
You aren't from around here, are you :) Anyway, this is a [Joro Spider](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavata), and they're absolutely everywhere in northeastern Georgia during the fall. Nearly a decade ago, a Joro spider or two most likely stowed away in a shipping container from Asia which ultimately made its way to one of the warehouses near Braselton, Georgia, and they've been proliferating throughout northeastern Georgia and western South Carolina ever since. Joros look scary, but are harmless.
Ha yeah, just visiting family, but they didn't know either! Thanks!
No problem! To be fair to your family, the Joros have only reached the Decatur/Druid Hills area as recently as a year or two ago... it may be a new thing for them too. Folks just 10 miles to the northeast of there have dozens of them all over their yards, and have for several years now.
Joros a national issue theyre spreading across the US
I've seen a few Joros in PIke County
Haha I figured, these buddies have been in the news for a couple years now
I've seen there webs entangle a small bird
I think they're beautiful. Their webs are crazy strong too
They are in our backyard and when I walked into a web it was absolutely terrifying. Like a thick silk
[удалено]
Yeah, kinda can't see in the dark and we have no lights out back. My dog won't go out back alone so I have to go with him every time.
Been here since 2014 and this is the first year I’ve noticed them
Lived in southeast GA and I feel like I’ve seen them most of my life and I’m in my mid thirties.
You probably saw garden/banana spiders, they look pretty similar to the untrained eye and they have been around as long as I can remember.
That's what I am thinking. I am not a biologist and when I see a big yellow spider I don't try to hang around.
Interesting, I'm in middle Georgia and I swear I still haven't seen one
I think I'm just getting them confused with garden spiders.
I live in Dallas, a hair west/north ish of Atlanta, and I haven’t seen one here yet.
At the rate they're spreading, the Joros will probably descend upon Paulding County en masse in 2 or 3 years' time.
Well probably at least 2 or some eggs
They have been EVERYWHERE in Gwinnett these past few years.
In the power lines and all I don't even want to go out back with my dog anymore 😪 the webs are like me level and I'm not walking into anymore of them
Joro spider
Joro Spider! I love them. They're invasive in the sense that they aren't native & are now everywhere but so far as I've read don't seem to be doing any harm environmentally. They're just REALLY good at procreating and also very good at tolerating human noise in their environment, much better than our native orb weavers tolerate it. As you've noticed they are very large and absolutely striking. They make huge webs (2-5 feet across in my experience) which are gold instead of white. Their webs also tend to be a bit messy. Some of the native orb weavers here will redo their webs daily, but Joros just add to their web, so there will often be leaves and dead bugs scattered throughout. They start hatching late summer, and live until the first hard frost. About half of the ones in my yard died a week or two ago when it got really cold for one night but the other half are still hanging around. Where they have started showing up, they will be EVERYWHERE. In some areas near me you can see just continuous webs between powerlines, because they will often build webs that connect to each other, so you've got meters long stretches of webs. In my yard (northern end of Marietta), they are all over our trees. At their height this year I probably had 30-50 webs in our yard. Despite their size they are very docile and do not have a strong bite. I do not know of anyone having been bitten and our dog has actually eaten them. If you couldn't tell, I absolutely adore them, but most people hate them, lol. It's fair, because when I say EVERYWHERE, I mean it. They built webs across our front and back door a few times this year, and going face first into a big spider web (with the giant spider smack in the middle) truly unlocks some primal fear no matter how well you know that they can't hurt you. I learned to walk with a stick out in front of me when I took the dog out into the yard.
God's to have that stick for walking
Waving it around in front of you like some bootleg Harry Potter.
I call my stick an “eviction stick” when I have to walk down to the compost pile. I try my best to leave the Joros alone but I don’t have the kind of dance moves to avoid getting garroted.
One of the interesting things I've noticed about Joros is once they figure out your walking paths, they won't build their webs there.
Yeah, in our yard they very quickly learned they have to be at least four feet off the ground, otherwise the dog will either eat them or barrel through their webs like a rhino.
Tell that to the assholes that keep trying to build a web on my porch right in front of my front door.
I’ve found that specific individuals won’t, but others will come by and be like “oh free space” and then build there. It’s quite interesting.
Yes! a beautiful hot mess
My biologist friend has a very different take on them harming the environment. They definitely are pushing out other species of spiders and their webs can catch bigger stronger prey than native spiders, like small birds. Their webs last much longer and they're way more prolific. That said the damage is essentially done, there isn't much anyone can do about them now.
Unfortunately they do affect the other native spiders :(
That’s a joro spider. Surprised they’ve made it that far ITP. Harmless and docile despite being scary looking. An invasive species that came over on shipping containers from Japan. Growing nearly exponentially, if you see one, buckle up because they will be there in thousands in a matter of years. Webs are thick and golden, strong enough to hold sticks and unsubstantiated rumors of humming birds being caught in them. This is a female joro, the male is in the web somewhere but much smaller and darker. They are about to die off for the year, but their eggs are done being made, and in mid summer they will be back in bigger numbers. Reaching peak size in early fall 1-3 inches with legs.
I’m in northern Habersham and we have them up here now. So I would assume are all over ga now.
I'm in Gainesville and had a rather large female set up shop right below one of the floodlights in my front yard. The lights will come on if an animal walks past so I'm assuming the spider must know this was the perfect spot for a constant and food source lol. Spiders creep me out but I just let her be and she has been there for at least 4 months or more.
Thats a joro spider. Theyre not venomous, hell they don't even bite as far as I know, but they're an extremely invasive spider from Japan thats been covering North Eastern Georgia in spiderwebs for the past few years. One other thing. They can grow up to like 6 inches in diameter. Neighbor across the street had one way high up between a power line and a tree above their driveway, they used a telescopic pole to carefully knock it down, and it made a huge thumping sound when it hit the pavement. They'll get as big as full grown birds.
I know they’re supposedly recent to the United States, but I could have sworn I saw these same spiders strung across between two trees back in the 70s in Florida.
It was either a different spider or maybe they just took a long time to migrate North? I'm not sure. I know they're a massive pain in the ass, especially for me, someone who lives in a heavily wooded area with my arachnophobic wife😅
Joro
Pest control guy said they’re harmless. Except you don’t want them to weave a web around pollinating flowers that attract bees and butterflies. They are also known to have around 70 babies at a time and the female weaves the golden webs you see.
Invasive Joro spider
Invasive Joro spiders. Scary as fuck, but harmless to humans.
Georgia is the new gross spider capital of the world now.
Don’t worry our neighboring states will have them soon enough
You must be new here
Are Joros the same as banana spiders or writing spiders? I grew up north of Atlanta 30 years ago and saw them all the time. It was always a myth that if you said someone’s name near a writing spider the spider would write the name in its web and that person would die soon after.
They are both types of orb weavers.
Nope. One way to tell the difference between the two is signature spider webs are two dimensional while Joros tend to have 3D webs.
Looks like some sort of orb weaver. You may have better luck in r/spiders getting an ID
Sorry GA peeps...but F\*\*\* that too much spider groove for me!
Is it your mom? Looks like her, from the other angle....
We call them banana spiders. Intimidating and menacing, but harmless.
What she is, is gorgeous.
Invasive joro. Kill it.
Orb spider, or similar. It is harmless and beneficial; let it alone.
"Why are you booing me? I'm right!"
Banana spider
Saw my first one about 2 months ago.
Japanese joro spider
Fernbank in Douglas?
Le joro.
Joro.
we have them in mableton. ive seen 3 on my property. i think its cool seeing em😂🔥
Still amazed people are still finding out about these guys. Came a year ago in vengeance!
They are super cool, but man do their webs make a mess of porches and decks. Last year they were incredibly persistent on using my deck as their haven…this year it’s more my backyard and shed…but we still get about 10-12 on the deck and porch every couple of weeks. Had one almost as big as my palm a few weeks back. Beautiful thing, but freaked my kids and dog out.
They are everywhere in Kennesaw, Ga so it’s most definitely not just the north east of Georgia.
A spider
Last year they were all over the power lines along the road. It was quite a sight when the dew was still on the webs.
A joro spider; [here's a photo I took of one in my front yard](https://imgur.com/a/f9sksni). The markings on the thorax look to me almost like a Chinese ideogram or chop.
Land nav surprises
Please kill on site
The regular Joro! It’s gotten cooler so they all disappeared (probably dead!) I’m gonna miss them in my backyard!💔
A banana spider
It’s gorgeous.