![]() They spun some pretty impressive webs in the trees than span across my 15ft driveway as well as across my front door. I'd never seen so many huge spider webs in one place until these guys showed up and I used to have the huge (or what I thought was huge) brown garden orb weavers. I even found one in my bedroom one night! That was a very frightening experience! I live in South Hall County, GA and these creepy crawlers invaded my place 2 or 3 years ago. I didn't realize these spiders made the news until a few days ago but I'm not surprised. Will it displace any of our garden spiders or other native spiders? I wonder how this spider will interact with our native spiders. According to Hoebek "there is no indication that the Joro spider will be invasive to the extent that it would be disruptive or economically costly". Interestingly, there are about 60 species of non-native spiders, mostly originating from Europe and Asia, thriving in North America thanks to international trade. The impact this exotic spider will have on our local ecosystem is unknown at this point. This Asian spider has a North American relative, Nephila clavipes or golden silk spider, which is common in the southeast. Adults die in the winter leaving the next generation to hatch in spring. The silk cocoon is attached to the bark of trees, on leaves or other human structures. ![]() Mating season occurs in October, which produces a single egg sac containing 400-500 eggs. I have searched assiduously but have been unable to locate a male. Male spiders lurk in the outskirts of the web and are significantly smaller and and light brown in color. When prey is caught in the web the Joro spider immediately bites her victim inserting a potent venom. We definitely wouldn't want to mistakenly walk into this sticky web. Our spider's web is filled with insects, leaves, and other debris so fortunately it is hard to miss. This park is about 10 miles away from us and located near a thriving warehouse and distribution district, which deals with overseas freight. The study sited Braselton Park (in Braselton, GA) as one of the collection locations, where they found a female spider with two male spiders attending her web. It is believed that shipments traveling through our area contained egg sacs, which hatched spiderlings upon arrival. Obviously, we are not close to a port but we are located along I-85, a major commercial transportation corridor. These were the first confirmed Nephila clavata in North America and scientists think they arrived as stowaways on cargo ships. Left: Argiope aurantia (female), Right: Nephila clavata (female)Īccording to a 2014 study (*) by Georgia Museum of Natural History at UGA, several Joro specimens were collected in three Northeast Georgia counties (Barrow, Madison and Jackson). How did this lady find her way to our garden? More research was required to unearth her story. This is a golden orb weaver that is similar in size to our common black and yellow garden spider ( Argiope aurantia) however, the Joro spider is native to East Asia (Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan).
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