With its large size, striking yellow accents, and rapidly expanding territory, the Joro spider certainly looks the part of a formidable invasive species. The East Asian arachnid has been steadily multiplying populations across the Southeast and up the East Coast in recent years.
While its creepy appearance and rapid spread are unnerving some residents, spider experts says there’s little reason to panic over the Joro’s American invasion. The spider may be an unsettling newcomer, but it’s relatively harmless to humans and the environment compared to other destructive invasive pests.
“My sense is people like the weird and fantastic and potentially dangerous,” said David Nelsen, a biology professor at Southern Adventist University studying the Joro’s spread. “This is one of those things that sort of checks all the boxes for public hysteria.”
Joro’s are unlikely to interact with humans aside from perhaps startling homeowners by taking up residence on porches and spinning their massive webs in prominent places.
Scientists are more concerned about invasive species like tree-killing insects and crop-devouring fruit flies whose spread is exacerbated by globalized trade and climate change that make new regions hospitable.
“This is a global concern, because it makes all the things that we do in terms of conservation, in terms of agricultural production, in terms of human health, harder to manage,” said Hannah Burrack of Michigan State University’s entomology department.
While the Joro spider population is currently centered around Atlanta, researchers expect it to gradually spread further across the continental U.S. over the coming decades using its “ballooning” technique to drift long distances as babies.
However, they note the showy golden Joros are mostly just an unsettling nuisance, not a ecosystem-ravaging threat like emerald ash borers, spotted lanternflies and other pests that can endanger food supplies and natural resources humans depend upon.
“I try to stay scientifically objective about it. And that’s a way to protect myself from maybe the sadness of it. But there’s so much ecological damage being done all over the world for, for so many reasons, mostly because of humans,” said Andy Davis of the University of Georgia. “This to me is just one more example of mankind’s influence on the environment.”
