Data from: Assessing bite force estimates in extinct mammals and archosaurs using phylogenetic predictions

Bite force is an ecologically important biomechanical performance measure
is informative in inferring the ecology of extinct taxa. However,
biomechanical modelling to estimate bite force is associated with some
level of uncertainty. Here, I assess the accuracy of bite force estimates
in extinct taxa using a Bayesian phylogenetic prediction model. I first
fitted a phylogenetic regression model on a training set comprising extant
data. The model predicts bite force from body mass and skull width while
accounting for differences owning to biting position. The posterior
predictive model has a 93% prediction accuracy as evaluated through
leave-one-out cross-validation. I then predicted bite force in 37 species
of extinct mammals and archosaurs from the posterior distribution of
predictive models. Biomechanically estimated bite forces fall within the
posterior predictive distributions for all except four species of extinct
taxa and are thus as accurate as that predicted from body size and skull
width, given the variation inherent in extant taxa and the amount of time
available for variance to accrue. Biomechanical modelling remains a
valuable means to estimate bite force in extinct taxa and should be
reliably informative of functional performances and serve to provide
insights into past ecologies.