Coelurosaur Phylogenetic Data and Analysis Scripts

Makovicky et al. provides data and scripts for phylogenetic analysis of coelurosaur dinosaurs. The dataset includes two TNT files for generating maximum parsimony trees and conducting biogeographic analyses. The materials were authored by Peter J. Makovicky and published on figshare in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Generate maximum parsimony trees from the 'Coelurosaur_submission_final.tnt' data file for phylogenetic reconstruction.
• Fit models of phenotypic evolution to phylogenetic trees using the provided R scripts and input files.
• Explore taxonomic synonymy effects by analyzing the 'Coelurosaur06_16_25_merged_taxa.tnt' dataset.
• Perform biogeographic analyses using the ten specific trees and BioGeoBEARS scripts included in the repository.
• Replicate the phylogenetic analyses and support measures detailed in the associated paper's Methods section.

Strengths

• Includes two distinct phylogenetic datasets in .tnt format for comparative analysis.
• Provides complete suite of scripts for tree generation, time-slicing, and model fitting.
• Repository size of 697.2 MB indicates substantial data and supplementary materials.
• Associated with a peer-reviewed scientific publication detailing methods and results.

Limitations

• Specific row counts and column structures for the TNT data files are not documented.
• Data format (.tnt) requires specialized phylogenetic software (e.g., TNT, PAUP) for use.
• Analysis scope is focused exclusively on the coelurosaur dinosaur clade.

Provenance

Source

Peter J. Makovicky, associated with the research paper 'Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade'.

Collection Method

Data compiled and scripts developed for phylogenetic and biogeographic analysis in the study.

Freshness

Last updated April 2026.

Geography

Focus includes Argentine fossil specimens, but broader clade coverage.