NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Two new studies suggest an invasive spider spotted in Middle Tennessee is easy to kill and are relatively harmless.

The Joro spider, which hails from East Asia, was first spotted in Maryland in 2010. The spider has since been confirmed in several counties across Middle Tennessee.

"You can see that it's got a striped pattern," Professor of Biology at Southern Adventist University, Dr. David Nelson, described as he held one of the spiders. "Yellow and kind of silvery-colored, and they have got striped legs — but sometimes those legs can be solid black as well."

"I haven't seen [them] personally, but I heard there are some in Nashville now," Associate Professor of Entomology at Tennessee State University, Dr. Kaushalya Amarasekare, said.

There have been sightings

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