Cathy's Turning Leaves

Yet another case of people sharing alarmist memes without checking the facts. Even some of the news media are spinning the misinformation. The Joro Spider (Trichonephila clavata), is related to golden orb garden spiders, which many people are familiar with. The Joro is found in many areas in Asia, but since about 2013 or 2014, it’s been spreading throughout parts of southern and eastern United States. Scientists think they arrived as stowaways on cargo ships. Female have blue and yellow banded legs and back, and asymmetrical red, yellow, and black markings on their abdomen. Males are plain brown. Like many other spiders, baby Joros will spin a parachute-like web to…