Squamata Proteomic Reference Data for ZooMS Analysis of Modern and Fossil Specimens

North American southwest fossil lizards from ten paleontological sites were analyzed alongside modern specimens. The dataset includes FASTA files for 23 species of Squamata (Phrynosomatidae and Iguanidae) used to expand a ZooMS reference database. It was created by Erin Keenan Early and published on figshare in 2026.

Use Cases

• Training proteomic taxonomic identification models based on the 23 included Squamata species.
• Re-examining fossil identifications based on the described method that found 37% of 58 fossil lizards were misidentified.
• Testing the North American herpetofaunal stability hypothesis using paleoecological data from fossil squamates.
• Validating species-level identification within morphologically indistinguishable groups like the Sceloporus undulatus complex.

Strengths

• Includes data for 23 species of Squamata, expanding a reference database for a previously underexplored group.
• Method was applied to 58 fossil lizard specimens from ten paleontological sites, providing concrete application results.
• Results include specific error rates for morphological identification, such as 5% misidentification in modern museum specimens.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is very small at 20.8 KB, indicating a limited scope of reference sequences.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Erin Keenan Early.

Collection Method

Proteomic analysis via ZooMS (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) applied to modern and fossil specimens.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 03:36:28; freshness should be verified.

Geography

North American southwest (from ten paleontological sites).