The Joro spider has not reached NJ ... yet. How you can report your spider sightings

Good news, New Jersey! As of Thursday, there have not yet been any reported Joro spider sightings in the state.

The bad news ... they are still on the way.

Back in November, Dr. David Coyle, entomologist at Clemson University, told NorthJersey.com that the Joro spider could be in New Jersey "next year for all we know."

Data shows that the Joro is going to be able to inhabit most of the eastern United States and they have already expanded into several states. So, while they may not be here yet, the reality is that they are likely on their way.

Here is everything you need to know about Joro spider sightings, identifying and reporting them.

Joro spider sightings in New Jersey

There have not been any reported Joro spider sightings in New Jersey as of July 11, per the sighting maps on iNaturalist and Joro Watch.

Where are the Joro spiders now?

Native to East Asia, Joro spiders in the U.S. are primarily found in Georgia. However, there have also been sightings in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

The closest sightings to New Jersey have been reported in Howard County, Maryland, about 20 minutes outside of Baltimore.

I saw a Joro spider, how can I report it?

Reporting your Joro spider sightings can be extremely beneficial to scientists.

"If you want to help out a little more, scientists could always use information on where these spiders are and how fast they're getting there," said Coyle in a video on the Clemson Extension Forestry and Natural Resources YouTube channel. "Simply take your phone, take a picture of one of these spiders, and upload it to iNaturalist.org. That info goes to a database and that will help us greatly in tracking where these non-native things are going."

iNaturalist.org is a website that allows you to identify plants and animals that you encounter while also generating data for science and conservation.

Through the website or the app, you can upload photos for identification, keep track of your encounters, explore various species and their observations around the world and more.

To report your sightings, you can create an account with iNaturalist, upload photos or audio, identify the species and submit your observation. You can also keep track of the Joro spider's movement by going to the "explore" section of the website, searching for the Joro spider and checking out the map of reported sightings.

Another way that you can report your Joro spider sightings are through JoroWatch.org, a monitoring program to collect data on Joro spiders. It was developed by the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia.

Visit jorowatch.org/report/ to report your Joro spider sightings. On the website, you can also see a map that keeps track of sightings around the country.

How to identify a Joro spider

Fully grown, female Joro spiders are much easier to identify than the males as they look quite different from one another.

Female Joro spiders are large, reaching up to 4 inches. They are bright yellow with blue-ish, green horizontal bands and a large red mark on the bottom side of their abdomen, according to Joro Watch. Their legs are black with yellow-orange bands.

Males are about 1/3 of the size of females and will be seen in the fall in webs.

Their webs can reach anywhere from just a few feet to 12 feet across, typically weaved in circular patterns between things such as trees or manmade structures.

Are Joro spiders dangerous?

Thankfully, there is no evidence so far that Joro spiders are dangerous to humans or pets, but they can be a nuisance.

According to Coyle, if you see a Joro spider on your house or in your yard, the best and easiest thing to do is just move it.

"Spiders put webs where it's a good location, so when you've got a spider right here on the side of the house, it's here because it likes that location," said Coyle in the video. "The easiest thing you can do is take something like a broom, simply get the web and the spider and move it somewhere else."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Joro spider sightings in NJ and how to report yours