Nephila clavata L Koch, the Joro Spider of East Asia, newly recorded from North America (Araneae: Nephilidae)

E Richard Hoebeke; Wesley Huffmaster; Byron J Freeman

doi:10.7717/peerj.763

Nephila clavata L Koch, the Joro Spider of East Asia, newly recorded from North America (Araneae: Nephilidae)

PeerJ. 2015 Feb 5:3:e763. doi: 10.7717/peerj.763. eCollection 2015.

Authors

E Richard Hoebeke¹, Wesley Huffmaster², Byron J Freeman³

Affiliations

¹ Georgia Museum of Natural History and Department of Entomology, University of Georgia , Athens, GA , USA.
² 124 Circle D Drive , Colbert, GA , USA.
³ Georgia Museum of Natural History and Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia , Athens, GA , USA.

Abstract

Nephila clavata L Koch, known as the Joro spider and native to East Asia (Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan), is newly reported from North America. Specimens from several locations in northeast Georgia were collected from around residential properties in Barrow, Jackson, and Madison counties in late October and early November 2014. These are the first confirmed records of the species in the New World. Our collections, along with confirmed images provided by private citizens, suggest that the Joro spider is established in northeast Georgia. Genomic sequence data for the COI gene obtained from two specimens conforms to published sequences for N. clavata, providing additional confirmation of species identity. Known collection records are listed and mapped using geocoding. Our observations are summarized along with published background information on biology in Asia and we hypothesize on the invasion history and mode of introduction into North America. Recognition features are given and photographic images of the male and female are provided to aid in their differentiation from the one native species of the genus (Nephila clavipes) in North America.

Keywords: Araneae; COI; Citizen science; Description; Diagnosis; Distribution; Georgia; Nephilidae; New record; Non-native.

Grants and funding

Support for analyses was provided by the Georgia Museum of Natural History internal funds. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.