X-ray microtomography (microCT) methods in 3D imaging

Advanced high-resolution X-ray microtomography measurement methods have been developed in evolutionary biology (team led by Prof. Klembar, PriF UK) and helped solve the more than 100-year-old problem concerning the origin of amniotics and thus the important stage of vertebrate evolution. Fossil findings of two groups of early quadrupeds and amniotic progenitors (Diadectomorph and Seymouriamorph) were analyzed by X-ray microtomography. The obtained 3D data were then subjected to mathematical processing and time-consuming data segmentation in order to 3D visualize fossil bone structures and distinguish them from sediment. The results were subjected to cladistic analysis and thus provided knowledge that allowed to determine a new classification of these groups in the developmental cladogram. The results were published in one of the most prestigious paleontological journals, Palaeontology [1].

Projects: VEGA 1/0228/19, VEGA 1/0209/18, COST CA 17121, COST CA 16101, APVV-14-0719

The results were in 2020 published in CC magazines:

• KLEMBARA, J. – HAIN, Miroslav– RUTA, M. – BERMAN, D.S. – PIERCE, S.E. – HENRICI, A.C. Inner ear morphology of diadectomorphs and seymouriamorphs (Tetrapoda) uncovered by high‐resolution x‐ray microcomputed tomography, and the origin of the amniote crown group. In Palaeontology, 2020, vol. 36, no. 1, p. 131-154. ISSN 0031-0239. (3.060-IF2019) Q1
• KLEMBARA, J. – HAIN, Miroslav– ČERŇANSKÝ, A. – BERMAN, D.S. – HENRICI, A.C. Anatomy of the neural endocranium, parasphenoid and stapes of Diadectes absitus (Diadectomorpha) from the early Permian of Germany based on the high‐resolution X‐ray microcomputed tomography. In The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, 2020, vol. 303, no. 12, p. 2977-2999. ISSN 1932-8486. (1.634-IF2019) Q2