Incorporating continuous characters in joint estimation of dicynodont phylogeny

Continuous characters have received comparatively little attention in Bayesian phylogenetic estimation. This is predominantly because they cannot be modeled by a standard phylogenetic Q-matrix approach due to their non-discrete nature. In this manuscript, we explore the use of continuous traits under two Brownian Motion models to estimate a phylogenetic tree for Dicynodontia, a well-studied group of early synapsids (stem mammals) in which continuous characters have been extensively used in parsimony-based tree reconstruction. We examine the differences in phylogenetic signal between a continuous trait partition, a discrete trait partition, and a joint analysis with both types of characters. We find that continuous and discrete traits contribute substantially different signals to the analysis, even when other parts of the model (clock and tree) are held constant. Tree topologies resulting from the new analyses differ strongly from the established phylogeny for dicynodonts, highlight..., , , # Incorporating continuous characters in joint estimation of dicynodont phylogeny

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b93r](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b93r)

## Description of the data and file structure

This project reuses data from Kammerer et al 2019. New data was not generated.

The dataset contains discrete and continuous morphological characters, as well as fossil ages. The character data is stored in Nexus (flat file) format. It can be viewed in a text editor and is meant to be used with phylogenetic software, such as RevBayes (as we did in this manuscript). The fossil ages are a tab-separated file and can be read by a text editor, spreadsheet viewer, or phylogenetic software.

Kammerer, C. F., P. A. Viglietti, P. J. Hancox, R. J. Butler, and J. N. Choiniere. 2019. A new Kannemeyeriiform dicynodont (*Ufudocyclops mukanelai*, gen. et sp. nov.) from subzone C of the cynognathus assemblage zone, Triassic of South Africa, with implications for biostratigraphic correlation w...,