It's that time of the year again. Time for...Jorou gumo![/日本語]
These little buggers freaked me out quite a bit last year as I ran into them on several occassions. They errected some webs near the cafeteria at my high school, and seemed to rule quietly and creepily over a stretch of highway in the mountains near Nagasaki. Luckily the couple times I lived in Kanto I was never around for their life cycle. They seem to pop up around late summer and hang around until late fall or early winter.
From what I can tell, they aren't horribly dangerous. They're venomous, but not life-threateningly so. But man, are they creeeepy. I mean, look at those colors - black and yellow, and females have red blotches on their abdomens. That's the kind of spider that in my mind bites you and gives you mutant superpowers. Or kills you.
Autumn is my favorite season in Japan, but I could certainly do without these little guys.
They are especially prominent where we've lived in that time of year as well. Some nice Halloween props to the house in New Hyde Park. Maybe you never noticed because I was often breaking the webs & trying to train them to set up in less conspicuous locations.
ReplyDeleteReally? I thought they were mostly found in Asia.
ReplyDeleteIf that's the case, no, I never noticed them, thank goodness. These things would have given me nightmares. =P
Spiders don't bug me (ha!) that much. When I moved into this house, I noticed a spider with a decent web in one of the ceiling corners. We made a deal -- he doesn't bother me, and I won't bother him. Of course, if my spider looked anything like THAT...
ReplyDeleteHeh...yeah, I've become more easygoing about spiders since moving here, but I still have a problem with neon-colored ones.
ReplyDeleteI meant big spiders in general, not this particular variety.
ReplyDelete