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Nephila clavata
A Japanese spider in GA?
If anyone is interested in the paper written on the Joro spider findings here in GA, they can find it here: https://peerj.com/articles/763/
The second posting of the Joro spider in Hoschton, GA is from a relative of mine and both of the sightings were in the same location. I'm pretty sure these spiders were around the past year or two, but I discovered Project Noah less than a year ago.
Alternatively, send me your email, and I will get you in touch with Rick Vetter, the arachnologist who investigates such things. arachnojoe@gmail.com
If you could send me your contact information, including your address, we'll have a local authority get in touch with you. Thanks! arachnojoe@gmail.com
You may want to contact your local wildlife agency and send them these photos, they should know that it is there. I don't see any articles saying it has been found in the US before, so should tell people before it gets to be a problem species!
Sigg that link you posted looks exactly like the spiders im finding in the yard! oh wow japanese spiders in GA
Sure, post to facebook. There are quite a few of these very large spiders making huge webs in the backyard, would like to know what they are!
Sigg, that exactly what it looks like to me! I am curious what it is doing in Georgia as well.
May I post a link to this on Facebook? I am having difficulty finding a match. With such distinctive markings, I would have thought it would be easier to ID.
It's body shape looks a lot like a common Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila clavipes) but the coloring is different. So upon checking for other species of Nephila, I found that only N. claviceps is native to the United States. But it looks a lot like the Japanese species N. clavata. No idea what it's doing in Georgia. See the ID suggestion for a link to an image.
The sunlight would not permit a photo of the spider's back when I was taking macro shots today. I have posted some (poor quality) photos I took with my phone a week or so ago.
Do you have any more views? One of the dorsum (back) of the spider as well as a view of the whole spider could be very helpful.