DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v6wwpzh19
title: Raw data for: Over-eruption in marsupial carnivore teeth: compensation for a constraint

description: Pronounced over-eruption of the canine teeth, much greater than in
 eco-morphologically equivalent placental carnivores, occurs with age and
 growth in Australian marsupial carnivores. Suppression of functional tooth
 replacement is a characteristic of marsupials and is frequent among
 diverse placentals, where the primitive therian pattern is two generations
 of incisor, canine and premolar teeth. Rapid determinate growth is one
 among multiple hypotheses proposed to explain the loss of tooth
 replacement in mammals. In this line of reasoning, the animal reaches a
 sufficient body or jaw size to accommodate adult-sized teeth by the time
 it requires functional dentition. Marsupial carnivores have a full set of
 adult anterior teeth at weaning, which erupt into a juvenile jaw that is
 25 to 30 % adult size, compared with well grown in placental carnivores.
 Indeterminate over-eruption of the canine teeth in marsupial carnivores
 results in increasing canine height and diameter with increasing body size
 with age, suggesting this is a compensatory mechanism for the constraint
 of a single generation of anterior teeth. Patterns of over-eruption in
 different tooth types of marsupial carnivores are consistent with two
 non-exclusive mechanisms that operate in other mammals, a response to
 tooth wear and lack of an occlusal partner.
description: The data are measurements of the teeth of carnivores. They were
 measured on both skull material in museums and on wild animals trapped in
 the field.
description: The data are all in Excel files.
description: # Raw data for 'Over-eruption in marsupial carnivore teeth:
 compensation for a constraint' Give a brief summary of dataset
 contents, contextualized in experimental procedures and results. The
 datasets contain metadata and measurements of the teeth of carnivore
 species, collected from museum specimens or from wild animals, and
 analysed to show species difference and changes with body size and age in
 tooth eruption and size. ## Description of the data and file structure All
 measurements are in millimetres. Tooth wear scores are ordered categorical
 variables defined in the paper. All blank cells are where data was
 missing; these are dealt with during analysis according to the format of
 the package. There are four data files with contents and column headings
 as follows: MRSPLC\_1\_Dryad.xls – museum measurements of canine teeth of
 placental and marsupial carnivores from museum collections. The first
 worksheet contains the data and the second worksheet the species names.
 Acronyms of column headings and data content (excluding the species names)
 are as follows: • Subcl = subclass of mammal, M = marsupial, P = placental
 • Species = acronym for each species as defined in the paper: Marsupial
 carnivores: Dv = D. viverrinus, eastern quoll; Dm = Dasyurus maculatus,
 spotted-tailed quoll; Sh = Sarcophilus harrisii, Tasmanian devil; Tc =
 Thylacinus cynocephalus, thylacine. Placental carnivores: Vp = Vormela
 peregusna, marbled polecat; Mf = Martes foina, beech marten; Hi =
 Herpestes ichneumon, Egyptian mongoose; Mc = Meles canescens, Caucasian
 badger; Ca = Canis aureus, golden jackal; Cl = Canis lupus, grey wolf; Hh
 = Hyaena hyaena, spotted hyaena. • Sex - F = female, M = male • Cbl =
 condylobasal length of the skull (in millimetres - mm) • totht = total
 canine tooth height (mm) • crht = crown height of canine tooth (mm) •
 erupt = measure of the amount of over-eruption of the canine tooth (mm) •
 urcn = the tooth wear score for the upper right canine tooth (ordered
 categorical variable defined in the paper) Mus\_Mars\_Teeth\_Dryad.xls –
 measurements of teeth of Australian marsupial carnivores from museum
 specimens. Acronyms of column headings and data content (excluding the
 species names) are as follows: • SPECIES = species, with EQ = eastern
 quoll, SQ = spotted-tailed quoll, TD = Tasmanian devil • SEX - F = female,
 M = male • CBL = condylobasal length of the skull (mm) • JAW = jaw length
 (mm) • APDS = maximum anteroposterior diameter of the canine tooth at the
 edge of the skull (mm) • MLDS = maximum mediolateral diameter of the
 canine tooth at the edge of the skull (mm) • CHS = canine tooth height at
 the edge of the skull (mm) • APDJ = maximum anteroposterior diameter of
 the canine tooth at the enamel cervical margin (mm) • MLDJ = maximum
 mediolateral diameter of the canine tooth at the enamel cervical margin
 (mm) • CHJ = canine tooth height from the tip to the enamel cervical
 margin (mm) • CE = amount of canine over-eruption = CHS – CHJ (mm) • M1CHS
 = molar tooth height at edge of skull for M1 (repeated for M2, M3 and M4)
 (mm) • M1CHJ = molar tooth height from the tip to the enamel cervical
 margin for M1 (repeated for M2, M3 and M4) (mm) • M1E = measure of the
 amount of over-eruption on M1 = M1CHS - M1CHJ (repeated for M2, M3 and M4)
 (mm) • URCN = wear score on upper right canine tooth (ordered categorical
 variable defined in the paper) • M1 – wear score on M1 (repeated for M2,
 M3 and M4) (ordered categorical variable defined in the paper)
 CMCANINE.xls – field measurements of devils and quolls collected from a
 wild population at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. Acronyms of column
 headings and data content are as follows: • SP = species, with EQ =
 eastern quoll, SQ = spotted-tailed quoll, TD = Tasmanian devil • IDV =
 individual number • SEX = F = female, M = male • Date = day/month/year •
 AGE\_months = age in months since birth (devils in March, quolls in June)
 • WT = body weight (kg) • CNL = total canine height (mm) • MLD = maximum
 mediolateral diameter of the canine tooth (mm) • APD = maximum
 anteroposterior diameter of the canine tooth (mm) Wearxht\_Dryad.xls – has
 the tooth wear scores for canine and molar teeth for wild marsupial
 carnivores. Acronyms for species, sex are the same as for CMCANINE.xls.
 Other acronyms are: • Species = EQ = eastern quoll, SQ = spotted-tailed
 quoll, TD = Tasmanian devil • Sex = F = female, M = male • Type = C =
 canine tooth, M1 to M4 = molar teeth • Wear = canine and molar tooth wear
 score (ordered categorical variable defined in the paper) • Meas = type of
 measure: TOTAL = total tooth height, CROWN = crown height, ROOT = the
 amount of over-eruption • Height = the tooth measurement (mm) ##
 Sharing/Access information Links to other publicly accessible locations of
 the data: * The data are not in any other publicly accessible location
 Data was derived from the following sources: * measured by the author on
 wild animals and on skulls in museum collections ## Code/Software Data
 were analysed using generalised linear models in standard packages on the
 R platform