Speaker
Description
Modern X-ray imaging techniques such as micro-CT provide fascinating insights into insect morphology. However, compared to the vast amount of genetic data collected, comparative micro-CT data lags behind. This gap is due to slow desktop-based data acquisition, limited access to synchrotron light sources, and analysis challenges. As a result, most insect X-ray studies involve very few specimens. However, the analysis of a broad diversity of complete, external and internal anatomies in 3D is essential for understanding important morphological features and evolutionary adaptations.
The imaging station at the KIT Light Source is optimized for fast X-ray imaging. Equipped with a high-speed detector system and a sample changing robot, our high-throughput micro-CT setup is one of the fastest in the world, allowing large numbers of insects to be scanned in a short time. Recent experiments have demonstrated the efficacy of the method for digitizing and performing 3D analysis of both important specimens and extensive scientific collections, including extant and fossil insects.
The talk will present recent results, including the discovery of fossil parasites, the identification of unique mandibles in chalcid wasps, and the evolution of beetle joints. In addition, it will showcase our most ambitious large-scale project to date: the ANTSCAN initiative, a collaboration between KIT and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) with partners from museums around the world, which has allowed us to rapidly capture phenotypes across the ant tree of life.
Furthermore, the talk will highlight advances in large-scale data analysis through semi-automated image segmentation and the application of artificial intelligence for fully automated analysis. It will also provide an outlook on our new methodological developments and present the first results of synchrotron X-ray laminography, a special form of micro-CT dedicated to laterally extended objects such as insect compression fossils.
