DOI: 10.5061/dryad.69p8cz968
title: The Mammal Dental Metrics Database: a compilation of fossil and extant mammal tooth measurements

description: Fossil relative abundance data in combination with specimen-level
 measurements can reveal community-level changes underpinning long-term
 ecological and evolutionary dynamics. However relative abundance data is
 not consistently reported in the paleontological literature, and
 measurement data is presented in individual studies in varying formats.
 Here, we compiled dental measurements (tooth crown length, width, and
 height) from the paleontological literature (or otherwise available
 sources) in a single database, simultaneously permitting analyses of size
 and relative abundance for the fossil record. This first version of the
 database focuses on large mammals and on the African and Arabian Neogene
 fossil record. Measurements of teeth of extant species were also
 collected. Each row gives the available measurements for a single tooth.
 Specimens with multiple teeth reported are divided among several rows.
 Taxonomic information was entered largely as given in the original source,
 without standardization or revision of taxonomic identifications.
 Geographic, stratigraphic, and assemblage information was also collected
 for fossil specimens, and specimens were assigned to individual
 'computational localities' (normally combinations of geological
 unit and location) that can be treated as paleo-communities
 (metacommunities). Numeric ages and geographic and geological information
 for these localities are given in a corresponding spreadsheet. Sources are
 given for all measurement and age data. This dataset provides a powerful
 new resource for investigations of changes in relative abundance, body
 mass, or mass-abundance distributions in the fossil record.
description: # The Mammal Dental Metrics Database: A compilation of fossil and extant
 mammal tooth measurements --- ## Description of the data This is a
 compilation of published or otherwise available dental measurements of
 extant and fossil mammals specimens focused on Neogene large mammals from
 Africa and Arabia. This dataset provides dental abundance and measurement
 data that can be analyzed to reveal long-term ecological and evolutionary
 dynamics. Dental metrics (tooth length, width, height) of African and
 Arabian fossil and extant large mammals were compiled from the literature
 and by measuring specimens at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.
 Information on the ages of fossil sites was also compiled from the
 literature. ## File structure Data consist of the following spreadsheets
 (in csv format): * Metrics: specimen-level taxonomic, measurement,
 location, and reference data. * Ages: Age and other contextual information
 for fossil localities. The localities in Ages and the specimens in Metrics
 can be matched on the 'ComLoc' column (=computational locality).
 * Variables-Metrics: Explanation of column names and abbreviations used in
 the Metrics spreadsheet * Variables-Ages: Explanation of column names and
 abbreviations used in the Ages spreadsheet * Biblio-Metrics: bibliography
 for references cited in Metrics * Biblio-Ages: bibliography for references
 cited in Ages ## Dataset Contributors: * Creator: Faysal Bibi * Data
 entry: Faysal Bibi, Dima Dahrouj, Nicola Heckeberg, Lisa Janzen, Lucille
 Rose. All spreadsheets are in csv format and can be opened by a wide range
 of easily available programs such as Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, and
 Google Sheets.