Data from: A modular framework characterizes micro- and macroevolution of Old World monkey dentitions

The study of modularity can provide a foundation for integrating
development into studies of phenotypic evolution. The dentition is an
ideal phenotype for this as it is developmentally relatively simple,
adaptively highly significant, and evolutionarily tractable through the
fossil record. Here, we use phenotypic variation in the dentition to test
a hypothesis about genetic modularity. Quantitative genetic analysis of
size variation in the baboon dentition indicates a genetic modular
framework corresponding to tooth type categories. We analyzed covariation
within the dentitions of six species of Old World monkeys (OWMs) to assess
the macroevolutionary extent of this framework: first by estimating
variance–covariance matrices of linear tooth size, and second by
performing a geometric morphometric (GM) analysis of tooth row shape. For
both size and shape, we observe across OWMs a framework of anterior and
postcanine modules, as well as submodularity between the molars and
premolars. Our results of modularity by tooth type suggest that adult
variation in the OWM dentition is influenced by early developmental
processes such as odontogenesis and jaw patterning. This study presents a
comparison of genotypic modules to phenotypic modules, which can be used
to better understand their action across evolutionary time scales.