A spider that could stretch across the rim of a large coffee cup will almost certainly hitch a ride into Connecticut one summer day, but the winter here likely would kill it, a state scientist said Thursday.

Another scientist, however, left the door open on whether the Joro spider could become a state resident.

Native to Japan, the Joro has been thriving in the Southeastern U.S. since its introduction, probably in a shipping container, eight or nine years ago. A recent study by University of Georgia scientists found the arachnid, which can grow to about 3 inches in diameter, is more cold hearty than a close cousin and is likely to spread northward.

News reports in the past few days have raised the alarm that legions of dessert plate-sized spiders soon will be skittering up the East Coast. But while Joros might be able to establish populations in southern New Jersey, they would not survive a New England winter, said Gale Ridge, a scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

Andy Davis, a University of Georgia researcher who co-authored the recent study, however, isn’t sure. The scientist at the university’s Odum School of Ecology said the Joros’ northernmost home in Japan is at about the same latitude as Connecticut.

“They would be at the top part of their range,” Davis said. “It gets a little hazy about whether they could survive.”

Published in Physiological Entomology, the study contrasted the Joro spider with its relative, the golden silk spider, which first moved to the Southeastern U.S. from the tropics around 160 years ago and has been confined to that region due to its cold vulnerability, according to a report by Leigh Beeson on the university’s news site.

Scientists found that the Joro has about double the metabolism of its relative, a 77% higher heart rate and can survive a brief freeze that kills off many of its cousins, Beeson wrote.

The big question, Davis said, is whether Joro spider eggs could survive a Connecticut winter. One thing is almost certain, though — the spiders will appear in Connecticut one day as interstate travelers, he said.

“These things are really good at hitching rides on cars and trucks,” Davis said, noting that a Joro, a hitcher from Georgia, recently was positively identified in Oklahoma.

A large female’s abdomen is about the size of a grape. Stick eight toothpicks in the grape to get an idea of the overall size, Davis said. But the spiders are timid and their mouth parts are so small that they likely cannot break human skin. A bite feels like a tiny pinch, Davis said.

Joros weave huge webs, 3 to 4 feet in diameter and sometimes several webs are joined, Davis said. Among the spiders’ prey is the stink bug, an agricultural pest.

People have no reason to fear the Joro, scientists say. In fact, Ridge said, spiders are among the most beneficial animals, eating insects that otherwise would kill crops.

“They are our allies,” she said.