Data from: The impact of dating method on interpreting continuous trait evolution: eutherian body size evolution at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction

The fossil record of the earliest Cenozoic contains the first large-bodied placental mammals. Several evolutionary models have been invoked to explain the transition from small to large body sizes, but methods for determining evolutionary mode of trait change depend on input from tree topology and divergence dates. Different dating methods may therefore affect inference of evolutionary model. Here, we fit models of body mass evolution onto dated phylogenies of Cretaceous and Palaeogene mammals, comparing the effect of dating method on interpretation of evolutionary model. Among traditional palaeontological dating approaches, an OU model with high alpha parameters is recovered as best-fitting when minimum-age dating is used, while branch-sharing methods are highly sensitive to topology. Release or release-radiate models are preferred when Bayesian fossilised birth-death method are used, but when using stochastic cal3 dating of trees, a model of increased evolutionary rate without a release in constraint at the K-Pg boundary has highest support. These results demonstrate unambiguously that choice of dating method is critical for interpretation of continuous trait evolution, and that care must therefore be taken to consider these effects in macroevolutionary studies.