Data from: Male-mediated prenatal loss: functions and mechanisms

Sexually selected infanticide has been the subject of intense empirical
and theoretical study for decades; a related phenomenon, male-mediated
prenatal loss, has received much less attention in evolutionary studies.
Male-mediated prenatal loss occurs when inseminated or pregnant females
terminate reproductive effort following exposure to a non-sire male,
either through implantation failure or pregnancy termination.
Male-mediated prenatal loss encompasses two sub-phenomena: sexually
selected feticide and the Bruce effect. In this review, we lay out a
framework that explains the relationship between feticide and the Bruce
effect and describes what is currently known about the proximate and
ultimate mechanisms involved in each. Using a simple model, we demonstrate
that male-mediated prenatal loss can provide greater reproductive benefits
to males than infanticide. We therefore suggest that, compared to
infanticide, male-mediated prenatal loss may be more prevalent in
mammalian species and may have played a greater role in their social
evolution than has previously been documented.