First, the West Coast worried over the so-called “murder hornets.” Now, the East Coast finally got its own lovely creature to fret over — the Joro spider, which also goes by the name “parachuting” spider.
Connecticut’s Newtown Daily Voice reports that the invasive species is marching all eight legs up the East Coast after being spotted in the South. The spider garnered its parachuting name because that’s preferred mode of transportation. They spin silken threads that catch the wind and carry them aloft, where they can travel for miles at a time. And now that temperatures are warming up, these little buggers are migrating north.
The yellow and black spiders can grow up to four inches in length and, like all arachnids, are venomous. However, their fangs are too tiny to penetrate human skin.
It is unknown what impact Joro spiders will have on the local environment nor is it known how they wound up in America in the first place, but naturalists are encouraging people to learn to live with them.