Giant, Hand-Sized Spiders Are Spreading Across the U.S. Here’s What to Know

If you have been seeing headlines about giant invasive spiders parachuting through the air and spreading up the East Coast, the story is real, though considerably less terrifying than the clickbait suggests. Here is an honest, fact-based look at the Joro spider, where it is showing up, how it travels, and whether you actually need to worry.

What Is the Joro Spider?

The Joro spider (Trichonephila clavata) is a large orb-weaving spider native to East Asia, where it is common in Japan, China, Korea, and Nepal. It arrived in the United States around 2013, almost certainly by hitching a ride inside a shipping container that landed in Georgia. Since then, it has been spreading steadily across the Southeast and beyond.

Female Joro spiders are hard to miss. They have bright yellow and blue bodies with distinctive red markings, and their leg span can reach up to four inches, about the size of an adult human palm. Males are significantly smaller, around a quarter inch, and considerably more boring to look at, being mostly brown. Both sexes spin large, golden-tinted webs that can span several feet.