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Giant 8in spiders from China are set to invade the US: Black and yellow critters seen parachuting through the air on the east coast - and will soon hit New York and New Jersey
Daily Mail ^ | 12/06/23 | Matthew Phelan

Posted on 12/07/2023 4:32:00 PM PST by Libloather

A venomous eight-inch-long spider native to Asia, whose palm-sized females cannibalize their male mates, is flying up America's east coast and spreading out west.

Experts say the Jorō spider can fly 50 to 100 miles at a stretch, using their webbing as a parasail to glide in the wind, and it's now also hitching rides up east coast highways - but the creatures aren't known to pose a threat to humans or pets.

However, the jury is still out on the impact that this giant spider, which is believed to have first arrived in the US a decade ago via shipping containers arriving in Georgia, might have on local wildlife.

One thing that is certain, according to an ecologist at Rutgers University's Lockwood Lab in New Jersey, who spoke with DailyMail.com: 'Soon enough, possibly even next year, they should be in New Jersey and New York.'

'Because their main methods of dispersal are to either 'balloon' with the wind, or hitch rides on cars,' PhD student and ecologist José R. Ramírez-Garofalo told DailyMail.com, 'they are generally going to spread to where the wind blows, or where humans are.'

Ramírez-Garofalo, who currently conducts research for Rutgers' Lockwood Lab, added that while the Jorō spider will likely be able to take advantage of warming temperatures along the northeastern seaboard, their hitchhiking and parachuting methods are sure to take them farther than some other invasives.

'Their range expansion is more complicated than the typical northward expansion that you see with a lot of species under current climate conditions,' Ramírez-Garofalo told DailyMail.com.

'Right now, we are seeing them dispersing into Maryland,' as the ecologist recently told Staten Island Advance. 'It is a matter of when, not if.'

Last month, other ecological and entomological researchers in New York, Tennessee, Texas and South Carolina pooled...

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Food; Local News; Outdoors; Science
KEYWORDS: china; chinesesinspiders; giantsinspiders; invasion; jorospider; parachute; redchina; sinspiders; spiders
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To: Libloather

How come they haven’t wafted over here before now?


61 posted on 12/07/2023 6:26:44 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission

This sort of reminds me of the parasitic wasps & their grisly takeover of living caterpillars.


62 posted on 12/07/2023 6:37:51 PM PST by Qiviut (If the genocide was unintentional, they would have pulled the poison vaccines, long ago.)
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To: Libloather

China is Joe Biden’s friend.


63 posted on 12/07/2023 6:38:57 PM PST by popdonnelly (All the enormous crimes in history have been committed by governments.)
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To: gundog

dust em!! maybe get a cloud of pretty colors if ya hit em right!!


64 posted on 12/07/2023 6:44:36 PM PST by sit-rep
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To: grey_whiskers

ya that was indeed good!


65 posted on 12/07/2023 6:46:21 PM PST by sit-rep
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To: Libloather

Anyone seeing a pattern here?


66 posted on 12/07/2023 6:47:40 PM PST by popdonnelly (All the enormous crimes in history have been committed by governments.)
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To: toddausauras
They look like good targets for a woofal ball bat.
67 posted on 12/07/2023 6:49:20 PM PST by political1 (Love your neighbors)
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To: PeterPrinciple

“with the latter being not only a threat to crops, but a threat that currently enjoys free reign without natural predators in many parts of the US.”

Yeah, those Fentanyl users are allowed to do whatever. My wife and I refer to Fentanyl users as stinkbugs because they both walk around with their buts in the air.


68 posted on 12/07/2023 6:51:38 PM PST by willk (Local news media. Just as big an enemy to this country as national media)
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To: PeterPrinciple
the Jorō spider mostly preys on flies, mosquitos and stink bugs — with the latter being not only a threat to crops, but a threat that currently enjoys free reign without natural predators in many parts of the US.

I am most certainly not a fan of invasives, but I'm trying to see the downside of this one.

69 posted on 12/07/2023 6:51:46 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.)
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To: PeterPrinciple

Aside from its size, that is........


70 posted on 12/07/2023 6:52:16 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.)
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To: George from New England
 
 
It is balloooooon!
Sound evil spirit alarm!
 
 

71 posted on 12/07/2023 6:52:16 PM PST by lapsus calami (What's that stink? Code Pink ! ! And their buddy Murtha, too!)
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Comment #72 Removed by Moderator

To: Qiviut
Qiviut; Wasps can be our garden friends. (And some fungus can be our food!)

Trichogramma Parasitoids;

Just a tiny lil thing! Here laying their eggs on a Moth Egg.

Here on the egg of a Corn borer:

Tomato hornworm parasitized by Braconid wasp:

Then there is this:

cordyceps-mushrooms

73 posted on 12/07/2023 7:02:17 PM PST by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: Libloather
It shouldn't have to take so long for someone to post a picture of it:


The Jorō Spider

74 posted on 12/07/2023 7:07:22 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission

I like finding parasitized hornworms. I know the wasps will hatch & patrol my tomatoes. I also have found using a black light works well for spotting hornworms at night (plus the garden looks spooky cool!).


75 posted on 12/07/2023 7:17:55 PM PST by Qiviut (If the genocide was unintentional, they would have pulled the poison vaccines, long ago.)
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To: Libloather

Ah yes. Foreign species are not good for a country. They will take over the native population and destroy the natural order of things. I believe that is why at the border they ask you if you are bringing in any fruits, vegetables, or plants. As long as you are carrying illegal and foreign people, then the rules do not apply. Carry on.


76 posted on 12/07/2023 7:20:33 PM PST by CFW (I will not comply!)
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission

Cordyceps are very interesting, but I think I will stick with herbs for the time being! :-)


77 posted on 12/07/2023 7:22:11 PM PST by Qiviut (If the genocide was unintentional, they would have pulled the poison vaccines, long ago.)
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To: Libloather

Diversity Strength

Voted for It

Until the large spider descends


78 posted on 12/07/2023 7:26:31 PM PST by linMcHlp
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To: BenLurkin

79 posted on 12/07/2023 7:28:38 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

Just liker in real life...


80 posted on 12/07/2023 7:49:58 PM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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