Evolution and maintenance of male care: is increased paternity a neglected benefit of care?

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Abstract
In many animals, including birds, fish, and insects, the degree of male care often (but not always; Sheldon, 2002) correlates positively with the level of paternity assurance, across species (Møller and Birkhead, 1993; Smith, 1997; Wright, 1998), within species (Dixon et al., 1994; Sheldon et al., 1997), and even within individuals (Freeman-Gallant, 1996; Fu et al., 2001). The established explanation for this relationship is that high confidence of paternity is a prerequisite for male care to evolve because a male should be selected to care only for his own offspring (Alexander and Borgia, 1979; Smith, 1997; Trivers, 1972; Wright, 1998). However, males providing care may enjoy better success in sperm competition, or in avoiding it, and the resulting increase in paternity can be sufficient to explain the evolution and maintenance of male care. This scenario results in the same positive relationship between male care and paternity, but with reversed causality.