Spiders can be super dads too! Scientists have discovered the first species of the solitary eight-legged insect, Manogea porracea, which can also do housekeeping.

This spider dad dote on their youngs and keep them protected from predators. The study led by Rafael Rios Moura revealed that this Central and South American species is the first and only known solitary arachnid that is involved in paternal care.

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"There is a high diversity of spider species and several spider families are well studied by research groups around the world," Moura added that no previous studies have found males engaged in housekeeping.

The newly discovered species from Panama and Argentina is described as small with brown to orange color. It dwells on webs weaved on leaf litters or low branches. After mating, the male arachnid will build a web over his partner where egg sacs will be laid. He will also be responsible for brushing off rainwater and repairing broken webs prior to hatching of eggs. All of these ensure the survival of the spiderlings.

The researchers exposed the spider dads and their spider eggs to predators in a laboratory setting. They discovered that the survival of spiderlings increased by 1.3 to 1.4 times with the presence of male M. porracea. The researchers further observed that the male species take charge of attacking and killing predators to protect their youngs.

Moura and his team also found out that the lifespan of male M. porracea is longer than female's, which may be the possible reason why males are left to protect their offsprings in the wild. Moura explained that females are treated as prey because of their bulkier appearance.

"That's generally true for all spiders, that females are going to be more nutritious and males are going to be mostly legs," he noted.

Moura added that among the 46,000 spider species named by scientists, only one social spider from Africa called Stegodypuhus domicola is known to provide paternal care for its offsprings. Unlike S. domicola, the M. porracea species is a solitary spider which makes the homekeeping characteristic rare.

Linda Rayor of Cornell University said, "there really aren't other examples where male spiders step up to care for young or eggs."

The research about the spider dad M. porracea was published in the journal Animal Behavior.