Morphological diversity of the cetacean mandibular symphysis coincides with novel modes of aquatic feeding

In whales, extreme modifications to the ancestral mammalian feeding apparatus facilitate novel modes of aquatic feeding. These modifications manifest in morphological diversity across a suite of characters, including the mandibular symphysis. Cetaceans span a range of symphyseal morphologies, with one lineage (crown mysticetes) evolving a highly mobile condition unique among mammals. Here, we use phylogenetic comparative methods to examine the evolution of symphyseal fusion and elongation across 206 extant and fossil cetacean taxa. Ancestral state reconstructions corroborate observations from the fossil record that suggest the ancestral condition for Cetacea was a fused, moderately elongated symphysis. Shifts in symphyseal morphology coincided with ocean restructuring and diversification of feeding modes. Evolutionary rates peaked in the middle-late Eocene and at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary as whales evolved shorter, unfused symphyses. During the Eocene, ankylosed mandibles became les..., , # Morphological diversity of the cetacean mandibular symphysis coincides with novel modes of aquatic feeding

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jvp](10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jvp)

## Description of the data and file structure

This Dryad repository hosts the supporting data for findings presented by Strauch et al. in \"Morphological diversity of the cetacean mandibular symphysis coincides with novel modes of aquatic feeding.\" The associated software files (R scripts) are available on Zenodo ([https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15742307](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15742307)).

**Data hosted by Dryad:**

* Ecological_data.txt
* Ecological_data.csv
* Elongation(Complete_Estimates)_data.txt
* Elongation(Complete_Estimates)_data.csv
* Fusion_simplified_data.txt
* Fusion_simplified_data.csv
* pGLS_data.txt
* pGLS_data.csv
* tree_pretty.tre

**Software files hosted by Zenodo:**

* Ecological_Analyses.R
* Elongation_AncEst_and_Rates.R
* FusionvsElongation.R
* Modified_tree.R

See below for details.

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