Aquatic and aerial adaptations in extinct reptiles: case studies in vertebrate palaeontology at the ESRF
The virtually non-destructive quality of computed tomography renders this three-dimensional visualisation tool a powerful solution for the study of valuable and often fragile fossil material that is typically unavailable for invasive research techniques.
We present two studies that were enabled by the application of propagation phase-contrast synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography at the ESRF. Nothosaurus is an early representative of the now-extinct secondarily marine Sauropterygia, which also includes the iconic plesiosaurs that dominated the Mesozoic oceans. Hollows inside a skull of Nothosaurus, including the interior braincase, provided better insight into the early adaptations associated with the secondarily aquatic lifestyle and ecology of this animal. The famous feathered dinosaur Archaeopteryx lived circa 150 million years ago in present-day Bavaria and is traditionally considered crucial for understanding the ancestral fashion of bird flight. The cross-sectional geometry of its wing bones revealed strong evidence that Archaeopteryx employed an early mode of active dinosaurian flight.
Rapid developments in synchrotron tomography foresee the visualisation of even larger objects at higher resolutions in the future and will continue to expand the role of computed tomography in vertebrate palaeontology.
Requests made by e-mail will be confirmed.
If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail, please contact us by phone.