Salamander ecomorphology reveals a unique suite of climbing adaptations

Many salamanders climb extensively but lack morphological adaptations, such as claws or adhesive toe pads, found in other climbing tetrapods. Here, we compared climbers and non-climbers from the salamander genera Aneides and Plethodon to evaluate potential morphological adaptations for climbing across multiple levels of biological organization. We integrated body shape morphometrics, allometry of the autopods (manus and pes), mechanical advantage of the digits, and comparisons of epithelial microstructures. Compared to non-climbers, climbers have longer limbs that likely facilitate faster climbing and have larger and positively allometric autopods that likely yield superior clinging performance. Longer digits increase climbing reach at the expense of grip force, but climbers circumvent this trade-off with phalangeal morphologies that increase the mechanical advantage of their digits. A few species also have pes epithelia that may increase adhesion or friction but epithelial morphology w..., , # Data from: Salamander ecomorphology reveals a unique suite of climbing adaptations

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx96](10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx96)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: AllometryData.csv

**Description:** Static allometry coefficients for the pes (cm^2) relative to body mass (g) for 30 species of plethodontids.

##### Variables

* species: Genus species name.
* n: Number of individuals used to infer the scaling coefficients. 
* slope: Static slope of the allometric relationship.
* int: Static intercept of the allometric relationship.
* svl_max: Maximum snout-vent length reported in the literature (mm).
* Locomotion: Climbing preference of the species (Scansorial or Non-Climber).
* Habitat: Habitat preference of the species (Arboreal, Saxicolous, or Terrestrial).
* Allometry Citation: The source of the scaling coefficients or the original data.
* SVL Citation: The source of the maximum snout-vent length.

#### File: RawMor...,