Modular skull traits reflect continuous plant functional trait gradients in ungulates

Whereas, access-related trait associations with plant architecture, and mastication and comminution associations with leaf toughness, are shaped by lineage-level sorting. Together, these results show that ungulate skull morphology tracks continuous variation in plant functional traits through modular evolutionary responses operating across multiple temporal scales. This continuous trait-based framework moves beyond traditional feeding guilds and provides a more mechanistic basis for predicting herbivore feeding strategies in both living and extinct systems.DESCRIPTION OF THE DATAThe excel file Skull_morphology_reflects_plant_diets_SUPPORTING_INFORMATION_FILE_S1.xlsx contains information on the actual diet proportions data sets collected from literature, as well as plant traits of the actual diets of the herbivores also collected from literature and trait repositories.An extensive bibliographic search of the diet proportions of 87 species of bovids and 28 species of cervids was carried out from previously published papers, dissertations, reports, and unpublished materials, where only the sources that provide proportions of plant species consumed by the herbivores was considered.Please read the METADATA sheet of the excel file for more information on its contents.FILE STRUCTURESkull_morphology_reflects_plant_diets_SUPPORTING_INFORMATION_FILE_S1.xlsx: contains all the actual diet data for 115 species of bovids and cervids [bovids=87 species; cervids=28 species], as referenced in the main manuscript.

Please read the METADATA sheet of the excel file for more information on its contents.CONTRIBUTORSCreator: (undisclosed for review)Diet data encoding: (undisclosed for review)Plant trait encoding: (undisclosed for review)