Free Republic

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...

The authors say the arachnids are harmless to people and pets and may even eat pests like stink bugsLast year in Georgia, the non-native Joro spider population exploded. Golden webs draped porches, powerlines and mailboxes across at least 25 counties in the state, per the Hexapod Herald’s Michele Hatcher. “I have several hundred, and they actually make the place look spooky with all the messy webs—like a scene out of 'Arachnophobia,'” entomologist Will Hudson of the University of Georgia Extension told the Herald last fall. The spiders are large and eye-catching, about the size of a human adult’s palm, with...

ATLANTA (TND) — An invasive species of spider has made its way to Georgia, and will likely spread out to more states along the East Coast, according to experts with the University of Georgia (UGA). The 3-inch long "Joro Spider" is native to Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The spider thrives in Japan, which has a similar climate to the southeastern United States...