Supporting data for the thesis titled “Bridging the Past and Present: The Impact of the Isthmus of Panama on the Faunal Dynamics of Ostracoda”

In summary, the ostracod census data were used to investigate:1) The macroevolutionary impacts of ostracods associated with the Neogene formation of the Isthmus of Panama. 2) The trends in body size analysis associated with the Caribbean Extinction Event.3) The biogeography and community structure of ostracods across the modern-day Isthmus of Panama, namely the southwest Caribbean Sea and the Tropical Eastern Pacific.4) The ecology, taxonomy, and patterns of dispersal on two species of<i> Neomonoceratina </i>with Indo-Pacific origins.<br>The first dataset, titled "PPP samples", contains the census data for 171 ostracod species, derived from Neogene rock outcrop samples from the sedimentary basins of Panama and Costa Rica - these samples form a larger project titled the "Panama Palaeontology Project". The second dataset, titled "Panama surface samples", contains the census data for 233 ostracod species derived from surface sediment samples dredged from the southwestern Caribbean Sea and the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Both datasets form the basis of the assessed faunal dynamics of ostracods associated with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama.