Data from: Estimation of body mass distributions of Carboniferous tetrapod communities and comparison with modern coastal tropical wetlands
Data files
Sep 15, 2026 version files 37.54 KB
Abstract
Coastal tropical wetlands have seen substantial change over the course of Earth’s history. Examining what commonalities lie between ancient tropical wetlands and their modern counterparts allows us to better understand the ecological building blocks foundational to their functioning. We herein evaluate the similarity of modern and Pennsylvanian tetrapod community structures from coastal tropical wetlands through the lens of body mass distributions. To obtain fossil body mass distributions, we expanded upon an existing technique of body mass estimation in fossil quadrupeds based on the surface areas of the centra of trunk vertebrae. Using this technique, we estimated the body masses of 21 tetrapods from the Pennsylvanian of Joggins and Point Aconi, Nova Scotia, the two assemblages against which we compared modern coastal wetland body mass distributions. Our results indicate that taphonomic size-biases can explain some of the differentiation between the body mass distributions of Paleozoic terrestrial tetrapod communities in tropical coastal wetlands and their modern counterparts. However, our results also indicate that limitations in the low dietary diversity of Carboniferous tetrapods may have had an impact on body mass distributions that would have caused them to differ from those of modern coastal tropical wetland ecosystems.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tdz08kqg0
Description of the data and file structure
Supplementary File A of Whittingham et al. (2026, Paleobiology**).**
Supplementary Files A1-3 contain measurements of trunk vertebrae from modern and fossil quadrupeds, along with live body masses for modern quadrupeds, and estimated body masses for fossil quadrupeds. Citations for fossil specimens published in other works are as follows:
Adams, G.R., B.K.A Otoo, C.P.W. Bohus, L.M. Micucci, and H.C. Maddin. 2025. Anatomy and revised diagnosis of the embolomere Calligenethlon watsoni from Joggins, Nova Scotia, based on micro-computed tomography. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 203:zlae178.
Baird, D., and R.L. Carroll. 1967. Romeriscus, the oldest known reptile. Science 157:56-59.
Carroll, R.L. 1966. Microsaurs from the Westphalian B of Joggins, Nova Scotia. Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of London 177:63-97.
Carroll, R.L. 1967. Labyrinthodonts from the Joggins Formation. Journal of Paleontology 41:111-142.
Carroll, R.L. 1969. A middle Pennsylvanian captorhinomorph, and the interrelationships of primitive reptiles. Journal of Paleontology 43:151-170.
Holmes, R.B., R.L. Carroll, and R.R. Reisz. 1998. The first articulated skeleton of Dendrerpeton acadianum (Temnospondyli, Dendrerpetontidae) from the lower Pennsylvanian locality of Joggins, Nova Scotia, and a review of its relationships. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18:64-79.
Klembara, J. 1985. A new embolomerous amphibian (Anthracosauria) from the Upper Carboniferous of Florence, Nova Scotia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 5:293-302.
Maddin, H.C., A. Mann, and B. Hebert. 2019. Varanopid from the Carboniferous of Nova Scotia reveals evidence of parental care in amniotes. Nature Ecology and Evolution 4:50-56.
Mann, A., B.M. Gee, J.D. Pardo, D. Marjanovic, G.R. Adams, A.S. Calthorpe, H.C. Maddin, and J.S. Anderson. 2020. Reassessment of the historic "microsaurs" from Joggins, Nova Scotia, reveals hidden diversity in the earliest amniote ecosystem. Papers in Palaeontology 6:605-625.
Modesto, S.P., D.M. Scott, M.J. MacDougall, H-D. Sues, D.C. Evans, and R.R. Reisz. 2015. The oldest parareptile and the diversification of reptiles. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282:20141912.
Reisz, R.R. 1972. Pelycosaurian reptiles from the Middle Pennsylvanian of North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 144:27-62.
File: Supplement_A1_-_Modern_Vertebral_Surface_Areas.csv
Description: Summary measurements of modern quadrupeds. Particularly maximum, minimum, and surface areas of the trunk centra, and live body masses.
Variables
- Specimen No.: Specimen numbers for modern vertebrate skeletons
- Repository: Institutional abbreviation for specimen repository, where ROM represents the Royal Ontario Museum, CMN represents the Canadian Museum of Nature, and USNM represents the Smithsonian Museum
- Clade: General classification of specimen (Mammalia, Reptilia, Lissamphibia)
- Terrestriality: Categorization of specimen as terrestrial or semi-aquatic
- BM Category: Discretized body mass category, in kilograms
- Scientific Name: Scientific name
- Sex: Sex of specimen, M for male, F for female, marked “?” if unknown
- Body Mass (g): Recorded live wet body mass, in grams
- Mean OSA (mm^2): Mean Ovate Surface Area of all trunk centra, in square millimeters
- Min OSA (mm^2): Minimum Ovate Surface Area among all trunk centra, in square millimeters
- Max OSA (mm^2): Maximum Ovate Surface Area among all trunk centra, in square millimeters
File: Supplement_A2_-_Fossil_OSAs_and_body_mass_estimates.csv
Description: Ovate Surface Areas (OSAs) of trunk centra and body mass estimations for fossil tetrapods from Point Aconi, Port Hood, and Joggins, Nova Scotia and Cape Egmont, Prince Edward Island.
Variables
- Specimen no.: Specimen numbers for fossil tetrapods from the Redpath Museum (RM), Nova Scotia Museum (NSM), British Museum (BM), Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Princeton University (PU), and Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN)
- Locality: Locality of specimen
- Name: Scientific name
- Specimen Availability: Information for finding images of specimen
- Centra measured: Number of measured trunk centra
- Maximum OSA (mm^2): Ovate Surface Area (OSA) of the largest trunk centrum, in square millimeters
- Body Mass estimate (kg): Estimation of body mass following Equation 3 of Whittingham et al. (2026, Paleobiology), in kilograms
- BM estimate Lower Bound: Lower bound of body mass estimation following Equation 3 of Whittingham et al. (2026, Paleobiology), in kilograms
- BM estimate Upper Bound: Upper bound of body mass estimation following Equation 3 of Whittingham et al. (2026, Paleobiology), in kilograms
File: Supplement_A3_-_Raw_Modern_OSAs.csv
Description: Vertebra-by-vertebra measurements of Ovate Surface Areas (OSAs) of trunk centra from modern quadrupeds.
Variables
- No.: Specimen numbers for modern vertebrate skeletons
- Collection: Institutional abbreviation for specimen repository, where ROM represents the Royal Ontario Museum and CMN represents the Canadian Museum of Nature.
- Clade: General classification of specimen (Mammalia, Reptilia, Lissamphibia)
- Genus: Genus of specimen
- species: Species of specimen
- Sex: Sex of specimen, M for male, F for female, marked “?” if unknown
- BM(g): Recorded live wet body mass, in grams
- C&E Measured: Whether specimen was also measured by Campione and Evans (2012, BMC Biology). Y for yes, N for no.
- OSA2 – OSA35: Ovate Surface Areas for each vertebral centrum between the shoulder girdle and pelvic girdle, measured in square millimeters, arranged in order from most anterior (OSA2) to most posterior (OSA35). NA’s represent vertebral positions that could not be measured or were not situated between the shoulder girdle and pelvic girdle.