Data from: Postcranial morphology and the locomotor habits of living and extinct carnivorans

Members of the order Carnivora display a broad range of locomotor habits,
including cursorial, scansorial, arboreal, semiaquatic, aquatic, and
semifossorial species from multiple families. Ecomorphological analyses
from osteological measurements have been used successfully in prior
studies of carnivorans and rodents to accurately infer the locomotor
habits of extinct species. This study uses 20 postcranial measurements
that have been shown to be effective indicators of locomotor habits in
rodents and incorporates an extensive sample of over 300 individuals from
more than 100 living carnivoran species. We performed statistical
analyses, including analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stepwise discriminant
function analysis, using a set of 16 functional indices (ratios). Our
ANOVA results reveal consistent differences in postcranial skeletal
morphology among locomotor groups. Cursorial species display distal
elongation of the limbs, gracile limb elements, and relatively narrow
humeral and femoral epicondyles. Aquatic and semiaquatic species display
relatively robust, shortened femora and elongate metatarsals.
Semifossorial species display relatively short, robust limbs with enlarged
muscular attachment sites and elongate claws. Both semiaquatic and
semifossorial species have relatively elongate olecranon process of the
ulna and enlarged humeral and femoral epicondyles. Terrestrial,
scansorial, and arboreal species are characterized by having primarily
intermediate features, but arboreal species do show relatively elongate
manual digits. Morphological indices effectively discriminate locomotor
groups, with cursorial and arboreal species more accurately classified
than terrestrial, scansorial, or semiaquatic species. Both within and
between families, species with similar locomotor habits converge toward
similar postcranial morphology despite their independent evolutionary
histories. The discriminant analysis worked particularly well to correctly
classify members of the Canidae, but not as well for members of the
Mustelidae or Ursidae. Results are used to infer the locomotor habits of
extinct carnivorans, including members of several extinct families, and
also 12 species from the Pleistocene of Rancho La Brea.