Male cellar spiders taking care of their young?

[Serenaschulz]

Ive had this pair of cellar spiders in my bathroom for a while now, i call them Harald and Helga. Helga had an egg sac and they all just hatched. But Harald still sticks around. I didn’t think males stuck around after mating? Yet I’ve witnessed him “guard” the egg sac while Helga leaves and when she comes back he simply moves out of her way. Now that the slings are here, Harald is STILL there. Is this normal behavior for cellar spiders? Do the males help take care of the egg sac/slings? Or is Harald father of the decade in the cellar spider world?

 

[darkness975]

Maybe @The Snark can shed some light.

 

[The Snark]

Yups, common. They are very communal. The males allow their webs to be used by others and they all share prey catches. Not unusual to see two of them sucking on the same bug at the same time. Slings are treated as just another member of the community. Eventually the kids move off, either making satellite webs or starting a new one often a few feet away.
i've never seen pholcids getting into battles with each other. This may vary with different sub species but the species in SE Asia I've observed so far, internecine squabbles are not in their playbook. I suspect this is an offshoot of the genetics survival of the species. Pholcids probably being the most deadly of all spiders that feed on other spiders.

It.s worth closely observing pholcids capturing prey. With their bodies well away from the scene of the action all four back legs can be employed in a lightning fast pulling out webbing and wrapping the prey. Be it prowling hunters or theridiidae, they simply don't stand a chance. The four front legs stabilize the spider, the first pair of back legs stabilizes the webbing and the rearmost pair ties the knots. Imagine wrapping a christmas present and having somebody put their finger there so you can tie the knot but genetically built in super duper fast supplying their own fingers.
Note Pholcids are not in the theridiidae family but their own branch of aranaomorphs.

 

[Serenaschulz]

Thank you for the reply! Although now it seems the male kicked the female out of the web and is guarding the slings himself. I saw her try to come back into the web and he chased her off and almost seemed to try to catch her. I’m not sure why her suddenly kick her out if they’ve been mates for this long. This couple is continuously keeping me guessing.

 

[HooahArmy]

Thank you for the reply! Although now it seems the male kicked the female out of the web and is guarding the slings himself. I saw her try to come back into the web and he chased her off and almost seemed to try to catch her. I’m not sure why her suddenly kick her out if they’ve been mates for this long. This couple is continuously keeping me guessing.

Some house spiders are known to eat their young and maybe the male might be trying to prevent that.
The female may be booted, but I hope she's paying child support after leaving...

 

[The Snark]

Some house spiders are known to eat their young and maybe the male might be trying to prevent that.

That's the first thing that comes to my mind. The males often attract harems. So maybe they have a disproportionate share of the species survival rules of the road.

 

[darkness975]

It.s worth closely observing pholcids capturing prey. With their bodies well away from the scene of the action all four back legs can be employed in a lightning fast pulling out webbing and wrapping the prey

Latrodectus spp. Do this as well. They are surprisingly smart and agile with their prey capturing. Superior survival instincts.