Abstract
A dataset of high-resolution microCT scans of primate skulls (crania and mandibles) and certain postcranial elements was collected to address questions about primate skull morphology. The sample consists of 489 scans taken from 431 specimens, representing 59 species of most Primate families. These data have transformative reuse potential as such datasets are necessary for conducting high power research into primate evolution, but require significant time and funding to collect. Similar datasets were previously only available to select research groups across the world. The physical specimens are vouchered at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. The data collection took place at the Center for Nanoscale Systems at Harvard. The dataset is archived on MorphoSource.org. Though this is the largest high fidelity comparative dataset yet available, its provisioning on a web archive that allows unlimited researcher contributions promises a future with vastly increased digital collections available at researchers’ finger tips.
Highlights
Background & SummaryDigital data in comparative morphologyHigh fidelity, microCT and surface scan renderings of osteological materials and wet specimens have become essential starting points for basic research in many subfields of evolutionary biology over the last two decades
There are at least three reasons for this: strict limitations on what can be measured and how precisely those measurements can be obtained working from physical specimens, the fact that not all morphology can be measured externally, and the fact that museum specimens are often fragile, and frequent handling can damage specimens
American Museum of Natural History, Dept. of Mammalogy); (2) the majority of budgets for many dissertation level projects is targeted for scanning equipment, facility fees, or software; (3) researchers often spend the majority of their time traveling, scanning and processing datasets, which is traded for time that could have been put into research design and/or analysis
Summary
A total of 431 skulls of adult and juvenile non-human primates housed at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University were microCT (μCT) scanned at Harvard’s Center for Nanoscale Systems. Specimens listed as captive were not included. A list of all available specimens, with scanning parameters, is provided in Table 1 (available online only). The foam held the skull in place while still allowing the X-rays to fully penetrate the specimen without leaving visual artefacts. All crania in this study were scanned at parameters optimum for the highest possible resolution within the time available to capture all samples. All crania were scanned using 1,000–1,500 projections, scan time per specimen ranged from [18–60] min, and cubic voxel dimensions ranged from 18 microns for smaller specimens (e.g., Microcebus) to 125 microns for the largest (e.g., Pongo) (See Table 1 (available online only) for all sample scanning parameters). Users are free to collect their own data from the scans.
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