They’re here! Palm-sized spider capable of ‘flying’ spotted in Massachusetts

BOSTON — To some people, this news will sound like everything a nightmare is made of.

A spider native to Japan and described as being the size of your palm has reportedly been spotted in Boston.

In “the most northern sighting yet” and first confirmed in Massachusetts, a Joro spider was spotted in a woman’s yard in Beacon Hill, the Boston Herald reported.

Andy Davis, an assistant research scientist at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology, analyzed photos of the arachnid sent to him by the Herald.

“That’s definitely a big fat female Joro spider,” Davis told the newspaper. “The first one I’ve heard of in that area.”

Before arriving in Beacon Hill, the most northern Joro spider sighting was in Pennsylvania.

The Herald noted that it learned of the Joro spider in Boston from local photographer Joe Schifferdecker, who told the newspaper, “It was easily the biggest spider I had ever seen.”

Schifferdecker shared images of the spider with Boston 25 and said he stumbled upon it during a recent photoshoot.

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Joro spider Beacon Hill (Credit: Joe Schifferdecker)

“I first sighted the spider on the 10th during a photoshoot but didn’t realize what I had found until later,” Schifferdecker told Boston 25. “With the help of my friend, Tyler Belloste, we recognized the spider and I sent my photos to Herald.”

It’s believed the parachuting spiders arrived in Southeastern states in shipping containers from Japan and South Korea where they are native species.

Boston 25′s sister station, WSB-TV, reported thousands of recent Joro sightings across North Georgia.

While venomous, Joro spiders are not dangerous to humans because their fangs are too weak to penetrate the skin, according to Davis.

“People need to learn to live with them because they’re coming, and you can’t stop it,” he told the Herald. “They’re not out to get you, and they’re actually one of the shyest spiders ever documented.”

A Joro spider can grow to be about three inches long and has eight legs with distinctive stripes of yellow on them. In addition to the yellow stripes, the spider’s underbelly has distinctive red markings. It also weaves large webs that look golden.

A main reason for the spread north is the spider’s ability to “fly” by releasing silk that catches wind currents, allowing it to conduct non-precise flight guided by the wind, according to Forbes.

Davis urged the public to report Joro spider sightings here.

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