Data from: Microanatomy of the amniote femur and inference of lifestyle in limbed vertebrates

The femoral microanatomy of 155 species of extant amniotes (57 species of
mammals, 15 species of turtles, 56 species of lepidosaurs, and 27 species
of birds) of known lifestyle is studied to demonstrate a possible link
between some basic parameters of bone structure and specific lifestyles,
as well as phylogenetic relationships between taxa. Squared change
parsimony with random taxon reshuffling and pairwise comparisons reveal
that most compactness and size parameters exhibit both phylogenetic and
ecological signals. A discriminant analysis produces several inference
models, including a ternary model (aquatic, amphibious, terrestrial) that
yield the correct lifestyle in 88% of the cases. These models are used to
infer the lifestyle of three extinct Permian temnospondyls: Eryops
megacephalus, Acheloma dunni, and Trimerorhachis insignis.