Hoebeke E Richard, Huffmaster Wesley, Freeman Byron J
Georgia Museum of Natural History and Department of Entomology, University of Georgia , Athens, GA , USA.
124 Circle D Drive , Colbert, GA , USA.
PeerJ. 2015 Feb 5;3:e763. doi: 10.7717/peerj.763. eCollection 2015.
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.
棒络新妇蛛（学名：Nephila clavata L Koch），又称乔罗蜘蛛，原产于东亚（日本、中国、韩国和台湾地区），现首次在北美被发现。2014年10月末至11月初，在佐治亚州东北部多个地点，从巴罗县、杰克逊县和麦迪逊县的住宅周边收集到了该物种的标本。这些是该物种在新大陆的首批确认记录。我们的采集样本，以及公民提供的确认图像表明，乔罗蜘蛛已在佐治亚州东北部定居。从两个标本中获得的细胞色素氧化酶亚基I（COI）基因的基因组序列数据与已发表的棒络新妇蛛序列相符，进一步确认了物种身份。利用地理编码列出并绘制已知采集记录。我们总结了观察结果，并结合已发表的关于其在亚洲生物学特性的背景信息，对其入侵历史和引入北美的方式进行了推测。给出了识别特征，并提供了雄性和雌性的照片，以帮助将它们与北美该属的一个本土物种（大木林蛛）区分开来。
