Data from: Hyper-longirostry and kinematic disparity in extinct toothed whales

Toothed cetacean (Odontoceti) lineages in the Miocene and Pliocene evolved
rostra that are proportionally more elongate than any other aquatic mammal
or reptile, living or extinct. Their similarities in cranial proportions
to billfish may suggest a convergent feeding style, where the rostrum is
swept through the water to hit and stun prey. Here we calculated second
moment of area from rostral cross-sections of these fossil odontocete
taxa, as well as from extant ecological analogues, to infer variation in
feeding behavior. Our results show that the extremely long rostra of
extinct toothed whales vary considerably in functionally relevant measures
of shape, and likely exhibited a diversity of feeding behaviors, ranging
from those similar to modern odontocetes to those convergent with
billfish. Eustatic sea-level and temperature maxima of the Miocene likely
led to changes in prey characteristics or abundance that enabled the
repeated evolution of this extreme morphotype, which later went extinct
during late Pliocene climatic deterioration.