To assess the ecogeographical relationships across Glaucomys species, we leveraged morphological data from museum collections to investigate the relationship between latitude and body size (mass and length) and appendage length (ear and tail length). We compiled morphological trait data for 1649 Glaucomys specimens from publicly available museum databases and institutional collections, including Arctos (Arctos, 2025), VertNet (VertNet, 2024), the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Division of Mammals Collections (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 2024), and the Richter Museum of Natural History. To account for recent advances in Glaucomys genetic data (Arbogast et al., 2017), any G. sabrinus records shown to be within California, Oregon, or Washington were reclassified as G. oregonensis. Compiled data resulted in 814 G. sabrinus specimen, 475 G. oregonensis specimen, and 360 G. volans specimen. When available, data obtained from Arctos, Vertnet, and the Smithsonian Collections included the date of collection, collection site with coordinates, sex, weight, total body length, tail length, and ear length. When a collection site was included in the record, but no coordinates were provided, coordinates were assigned using the central point of the most precisely indicated place. Manual evaluation of total body length, tail length, and ear length were conducted for specimen housed at the Richter Museum of Natural History (n = 4). Date of collection, collection site with coordinates, and sex were recorded according to the corresponding tag with each specimen. Specimen were laid flat, ventral-side down over a measuring tape, with all measurements recorded to the nearest mm. Total body length was measured from the nose tip to the fleshy tip of the extended tail, excluding any hairs projecting beyond the tip. Tail length was measured from the tail base to the fleshy tip of the tail, excluding any hairs projecting beyond the tip. Ear length was measured from notch, lowest point of the ear opening, to tip of the ear.
This data is housed in the "data" folder, with raw data in the "raw" folder, and cleaned data in the "processed" folder. "code" contains all code for the original and updated versions of this manuscript. "figs" includes all figures created as a result of this code.
