Fossil Gar Skull and Girdle Data from the First 2000 Years Post-K/Pg Extinction

DMNH EPV.128289 is a single fossil specimen of a large gar fish (>1 meter) recovered 18 cm above the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary in North Dakota. The dataset includes files supporting the anatomical and phylogenetic analysis of this specimen, which lived approximately 2000 years after the mass extinction event. Author Jacob D. Wilson published the data under a CC-BY-4.0 license on figshare.

Use Cases

• Phylogenetic analysis of gar species based on anatomical data.
• Studying body size evolution in post-extinction freshwater predators.
• Examining the recovery timeline of freshwater ecosystems after the K/Pg event.
• Comparative anatomical studies between extinct and extant gar species.

Strengths

• Precise temporal placement within the first ∼2000 years post-K/Pg extinction.
• Detailed anatomical data derived from µCT-based analysis of a >1 meter specimen.
• Includes multiple file formats (TXT, TNT, R, CSV, TRE, RUN) supporting different analytical workflows.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Dataset is based on a single specimen (DMNH EPV.128289), limiting statistical power.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Fossil specimen (DMNH EPV.128289) recovered from the Fort Union Formation, analyzed via µCT.

Time Range

Earliest Paleocene (∼66 million years ago, ∼2000 years post-K/Pg).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 07:55:40; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southwestern North Dakota, USA.