According to New Jersey Pest Control, giant venomous flying spiders with 4-inch legs are real, and they could invade the New York area sometime this year. The pest control service said in a news release earlier this year that Zoro spiders are coming to the Northeast after infiltrating the southeastern U.S. from Japan. University of Georgia public FM radio station WUGA reported that Georgia served as “ground zero” for the arachnids in 2021 as residents spotted the spiders in urban and rural areas.
According to Jason DiBiase, owner of Rochester Pest Pros, female spiders have a leg length of about four inches and a total lifespan of up to 12 months. DiBiase is also on the board of the New York State Pest Management Association and says Rochester has not seen any flying spiders; however, they have already begun to appear in the New York City and New Jersey areas.
DiBiasi suspects the spiders will make their way to Rochester via trucks and the Port of Rochester, but he’s not sure how they’ll survive the winter.
How to Identify a Giant Venomous Flying Spider
According to the Flanders, New Jersey-based pest control service, the Japanese spider is “difficult to see” because of “its striking appearance and distinctive behavior.” The extermination service’s release said the spiders are “bright yellow” and have black scales. The pest control service said what makes the Zoro spider different from other spiders is its ability to fly using a technique called “ballooning.” According to the release, ballooning involves the spider releasing silk threads into the air, which allows them to be carried by the wind.
How do you get rid of Zoro spiders?
It seems that Zoro spiders are here to stay, so there is no surefire way to eliminate them. DiBiase suggests residents take these preventative measures:
- Dropping the Webs
- outdoor pest treatment
- Call Your Local Pest Control Company
How did Zoro spiders come to America?
New Jersey Pest Control said the theory behind how Zoro spiders originated in the U.S. is that the venomous arachnids were inadvertently transported to the U.S. through cargo shipments, international trade and personal travel. It’s unclear how they reached the U.S., but the pest control service says “the consequences of their arrival are becoming increasingly clear.”
The pest control service said the Zoro spiders’ ability to adapt to different environments and reproduce rapidly is what made them the initial hotbed in the Southeast.
“This spider will be able to inhabit much of the eastern U.S.,” David Coyle, an invasive species expert at Clemson University, said in October 2023. “This shows that their comfort zone in their native region matches up pretty well with most of North America… Barring some unforeseen circumstances, we expect the range of these things to continue to expand, possibly farther north, and we’ve already seen that with some populations in Maryland.”
“It’s a question of when (or if) the spiders will reach New York and New Jersey,” José R. Ramírez-Garofalo, an ecologist at Rutgers University’s Lockwood Lab, told the Staten Island Advance in April.
