Environment

This summer has been announced as “scary” in the United States. Spiders, the size of the palm of a hand, have landed in several major American cities.

In October 2023, it was David Coyle, a scientist and assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University in South Carolina, who announced it through a study: Joro spiders, which come from Asia and were introduced to the United States via Georgia in 2010, “are spreading like wildfire” and “are here to stay”.

Particularly large, Joro spiders have what it takes to scare more than one person! “As adults, they use a surprising technique to fly by using their webs which they weave like a parachute,” reports L’Indépendant. They move in surprising ways, and are able to fly in clouds by the hundreds.

Arachnophobes, we sympathize, especially since they're in the process of being introduced into several regions of the United States, particularly in the state of New Jersey and New York. The East Coast is therefore starting to tremble... Don't worry too much, however, Joro spiders are not dangerous to anyone and generally do not enter buildings.

It should be noted, however, that some researchers "mention the de facto displacement of native species and the unenviable fate of all the insects that they catch in their immense webs," underlines L'Indépendant. We will have to wait a little longer before determining the potential nuisance of these flying spiders and their impact on the environment.

(MH with AsD - Source: L'Indépendant - Illustration: Unsplash)