The Navara Lab
Welcome to the Joro Spider Citizen Science Page!
Help us learn more about Joro Spiders!
See an egg sac?
Snap a photo and submit it here!
We are a biology lab conducting research to test how warming winter temperatures affect the survival, growth, and behavior of Joro spiderlings! If you have a Joro web (or maybe many!) in your yard, you can be part of the project! Simply tell us when you see an egg sac and we will come collect it. Not only will this help with the research, the hundreds of eggs in the egg sacs will not be there to hatch in your yard next year. Want to participate? Just click here if you see an egg sac and want us to come get it!
This is a mature female Joro. She is large with a bulging abdomen that has yellow, black and red on it. Mature females will often have quite small, brown spiders in the web with them. Those are the males who are waiting to fertilize her eggs.
Their egg sacs are usually about 0.5-1.5 inches. The eggs themselves are pink to brown but they are wrapped into an oval shape with white silk. Females usually don't place egg sacs in the nest. You can instead find them nearby in safe locations like under shingles, under leaves or branches not far from the nest. Image credit: Clemson Cooperative Extension