DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2fqz612xw
title: Data from: Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology

description: The trend of global cooling across the Cenozoic transformed the North
 American landscape from closed forest to more open grasslands, resulting
 in dietary adaptations in herbivores in response to shifting resources. In
 contrast, the material properties of the predator food source, muscle,
 skin, and bone, have remained constant over this transition, suggesting a
 corresponding lack of change in predator dietary adaptations. We
 investigate the North American mammal predator fossil record using a tooth
 shape metric and body mass, predicting that the former would exhibit
 stability. Instead, we found that mean molar morphology became more
 blade-like, with our tooth shape metric sharply increasing in the late
 Eocene and remaining high from the Oligocene onward. Subsequent tests in
 extant carnivorans reveal taxa with more blade-like teeth are prevalent in
 more open environments. Our results reveal an unexpected functional shift
 among North American predators in response to large-scale environmental
 changes across the Cenozoic.
description: Data is a combination of occurrence, morphological, diet and
 habitat data. The occurrence were collected from the New and Old Wrolds
 (NOW) and MIOMAP fossil mammal databases. The morphological data was
 collected from museum speciemens and published images. Diet and habitat
 data was collected from the liturature. 
description: # Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian
 predator ecomorphology supplemental data
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2fqz612xw](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2fqz612xw) The dataset contains the minimum age, maximum age, body mass, and relative blade length (RBL) for 393 North American mammalian predators. It also includes body mass, RBL, dietary category and habitat type for 190 extant Carnivorans.  ## Description of the data and file structure The datafile is an excel sheet with seven sheets.  Sheet 1: Fossil Data - contains minimum age, maximum age, body mass, m1L (first lower molar length) or largest molar (for creodonts) and relative blade length (RBL) for 392 North American mammalian predators. Units for minimum and maximum age are in Ma, m1L or largest molar is in mm, and body mass is in kg.  Sheet 2: Extant Data - contains body mass, RBL, dietary category and habitat type for 190 extant Carnivorans.  Sheet 3: References (Extant) - contains references for the Fossil Data sheet Sheet 4: References (Extant) - contains references for the Extant Data sheet Sheets 5-7: Handley BM, RBL, and Taxonomy - contains occurrence matrices used for the Handley likelihood analysis. Columns indicate different categories outlined in the manuscript for BM, RBL, and Taxonomy, and the rows indicate abbreviations for the different North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMAs). For the body mass analysis (Handley_BM), the categories are A_0_1 (between 0 and 1 kg), B\_ 1_7 (between 1 and 7 kg), C_7_21 (between 7 and 21 kg), D_21_100 (between 21 and 100 kg) and E_100 (above 100 kg). The categories for the RBL analysis (Handley_RBL) are A_4_5 (RBL between 0.4 and 0.5), B_5_6 (RBL between 0.5 and 0.6), C_6_7 (RBL between 0.6 and 0.7), D_7_8 (RBL between 0.7 and 0.8), E_8_9 (RBL between 0.8 and 0.9), and F_9_1 (RBL between 0.9 and 1). The Supplemental_text file contains the supplemental table and figures for the manuscript.  ### **Version Changes** Dec 2024: Fossil data was updated to correct for an error for the measurement of the m1L for *Caedocyon tedfordi*. The measurement has been removed, resulting in an NA for m1L for *Caedocyon tedfordi*.  ## Code/Software The Supplemental R Script contains the functions used to perform the Handley Likelihood Analysis. The data that the Handley Likelihood Analysis is provided in Sheets 5-7 as detailed above.