Invasive Jorō spiders can live well with humans, according to new study | CNN
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The invasive Jorō spider has baffled researchers by living near busy roads and urban places that other creatures tend to avoid. A new study might explain why.

As the Jorō spider continues to spread across the southeastern United States, its spindly homes can be spotted almost anywhere — even on power lines and stoplights hovering over busy roads.

Typical spiders — and most creatures — tend to find the noise and wind disturbance from nearby busy roads to be too stressful, but the Jorō spider doesn’t seem to mind much, according to a new study published in Arthropoda on February 13. This research could explain why the spiders are regularly spotted in urban areas that native spiders don’t inhabit and suggests the creatures are well-suited to thrive and spread in similar locations throughout the United States.

“If you ever look at a spiderweb next to a road, they’re jiggling and shaking, and it’s a cacophony of stimuli. … Roadsides are a really harsh place for an animal to live. But Jorōs seem to be able to live next to them,” said lead study author Andy Davis, a research scientist at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology.

  • Waldowal@lemmy.world
    143·
    4 months ago

    Fuck these things. Even if they aren’t bad for the environment, they absolutely wreck your yard. In the summer, each week, I’ll go around my yard and clean out 15-16 massive webs. Some of them 40 feet up. Most of them face level. The webs are strong so they easily get filled with leaves. Your yard ends up looking like a fucking haunted house with webs everywhere and leaves floating in the sky. Not to mention the females are HUGE - 6 inches across the legs sometimes. Total nightmares.