Applications of X-ray synchrotron microtomography for non-destructive 3D studies of paleontological specimens

Tafforeau, Paul; Boistel, Renaud; Boller, Élodie; Bravin, A.; Brunet, Michel; Chaimanee, Yaowalak; Cloetens, Peter; Feist, Monique; Hoszowska, J.; Jaeger, Jean‐Jacques; Kay, Richard F.; Lazzari, Vincent; Marivaux, Laurent; Nel, André; Némoz, Christian; Thibault, X.; Vignaud, Patrick; Zabler, Simon

doi:10.1007/s00339-006-3507-2

Cited by 407 publications

(305 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…We recently discovered several isolated feathers fossilized in an Early Cretaceous amber of France, which display a primitive structure that illustrates the early formation of this critical stage. In addition to classical optical techniques, we used X-ray synchrotron holotomography (Cloetens et al 1999) to reveal finest details, confirming the possibilities of synchrotron investigation for studying amber inclusions ( Tafforeau et al 2006;Lak et al in press). …”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 63%

The early evolution of feathers: fossil evidence from Cretaceous amber of France

et al. 2008

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The developmental stages of feathers are of major importance in the evolution of body covering and the origin of avian flight. Until now, there were significant gaps in knowledge of early morphologies in theoretical stages of feathers as well as in palaeontological material. Here we report fossil evidence of an intermediate and critical stage in the incremental evolution of feathers which has been predicted by developmental theories but hitherto undocumented by evidence from both the recent and the fossil records. Seven feathers have been found in an Early Cretaceous (Late Albian, ca 100 Myr) amber of western France, which display a flattened shaft composed by the still distinct and incompletely fused bases of the barbs forming two irregular vanes. Considering their remarkably primitive features, and since recent discoveries have yielded feathers of modern type in some derived theropod dinosaurs, the Albian feathers from France might have been derived either from an early bird or from a non-avian dinosaur.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 63%

The early evolution of feathers: fossil evidence from Cretaceous amber of France

et al. 2008

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“…High-quality images of homozygous transgenic and WT mice dentitions were obtained at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France), beamline ID19, with monochromatic X-ray beams at energy of 25 keV and using a cubic voxel of 5.06 mm. This method has been proven to be very efficient for very precise imaging of small elements 42 , including rodent teeth 43 . Other dentitions were imaged using a GE phoenix nanotom 180 at energy of 100 keV with a cubic voxel of 2.73 or 2.51 mm for heterozygous transgenic mice, of 3.48 or 4.95 mm for Apodemus sylvaticus, and of 5.20 mm for Stephanomys donnezani w .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Roles of dental development and adaptation in rodent evolution

et al. 2013

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In paleontology, many changes affecting morphology, such as tooth shape in mammals, are interpreted as ecological adaptations that reflect important selective events. Despite continuing studies, the identification of the genetic bases and key ecological drivers of specific mammalian dental morphologies remains elusive. Here we focus on the genetic and functional bases of stephanodonty, a pattern characterized by longitudinal crests on molars that arose in parallel during the diversification of murine rodents. We find that overexpression of Eda or Edar is sufficient to produce the longitudinal crests defining stephanodonty in transgenic laboratory mice. Whereas our dental microwear analyses show that stephanodonty likely represents an adaptation to highly fibrous diet, the initial and parallel appearance of stephanodonty may have been facilitated by developmental processes, without being necessarily under positive selection. This study demonstrates how combining development and function can help to evaluate adaptive scenarios in the evolution of new morphologies.

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“…It can be approximated as the refraction of the X-rays, and is visualised as an edge-enhancement effect (Wilkins et al, 1984). This effect can be favourable for visual contrast (Tafforeau et al, 2006), but it often hinders correct segmentation and image analysis when left unprocessed. At laboratory-based setups, this effect mainly arises at very high resolution and low sample attenuation.…”

Section: Imaging Artefactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Donoghue et al (2006) investigate fossilized embryos, whereas Tafforeau et al(2006) cover a wide range of fossils. More recently, Gai et al (2011) characterized a fossil of a jawless fish using synchrotron-based micro-CT. Other types of fossils include animals which have been preserved in amber , such as spiders (Bosselaers et al, 2010;Penney et al, 2007), beetles (Perreau and Tafforeau, 2011), pseudoscorpions ( Figure 9, which shows in high detail the right chelal fingers of the Pseudogarypus synchrotron Henderickx et al, 2012 at a reconstructed voxel size of 0.667³ µm³) (Henderickx et al, 2006;Henderickx et al, 2012) and earwigs (Perrichot et al, 2011).…”

Section:  Morphological Characterization Of Fossilsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution X-ray computed tomography in geosciences: A review of the current technology and applications

Cnudde

Boone

2013

Earth-Science Reviews

1,192

700

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Please cite this article as: Cnudde, V., Boone, M.N., "High-resolution X-ray computed tomography in geosciences: a review of the current technology and applications", Earth Science Reviews (2013Reviews ( ), doi: 10.1016Reviews ( /j.earscirev.2013 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T AbstractHigh-resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (HRXCT) or micro-CT (µCT) is a frequently used non-destructive 3D imaging and analysis technique for the investigation of internal structures of a large variety of objects, including geomaterials. Although the possibilities of X-ray micro-CT are becoming better appreciated in earth science research, the demands on this technique are also approaching certain physical limitations. As such, there remains a lot of research to be done in order to solve all the technical problems that occur when higher demands are put on the technique. In this paper, a review of the principle, the advantages and limitations of X-ray CT itself are presented, together with an overview of some current applications of micro-CT in geosciences. One of the main advantages of this technique is the fact that it is a non-destructive characterization technique which allows 4D monitoring of internal structural changes at resolutions down to a few hundred nanometers. Limitations of this technique are the operator dependency for the 3D image analysis from the reconstructed data, the discretations effects and possible imaging artefacts. Driven by the technological and computational progress, the technique is continuously growing as an analysis tool in geosciences and is becoming one of the standard techniques, as is shown by the large and still increasing number of publications in this research area. It is foreseen that this number will continue to rise, and micro-CT will become an indispensable technique in the field of geosciences.

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Applications of X-ray synchrotron microtomography for non-destructive 3D studies of paleontological specimens

Cited by 407 publications

References 39 publications

The early evolution of feathers: fossil evidence from Cretaceous amber of France

The early evolution of feathers: fossil evidence from Cretaceous amber of France

Roles of dental development and adaptation in rodent evolution

High-resolution X-ray computed tomography in geosciences: A review of the current technology and applications

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