EDITORIAL published: 15 October 2020 doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.591813 Editorial: Evolving Virtual and Computational Paleontology Luca Pandolfi 1*†, Pasquale Raia 2†, Josep Fortuny 3† and Lorenzo Rook 1† 1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy, 2 Department of Earth Sciences, Environmental and Resources, University of Naples “Federico II,” Naples, Italy, 3 Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain Keywords: digital models, surface scanning, photogrammetry, computed tomography, computational analyses Editorial on the Research Topic Evolving Virtual and Computational Paleontology During the last few decades, the development of new technologies and methods, and increases in computational power, are widening Paleontology’s research frontiers, moving this discipline—situated halfway between Biology and Geology—toward increasing use of (paleo) biological and (paleo)ecological approaches, and providing the opportunity to fully explore quantitative aspects of phenotypic evolution as well as new clues to the history of life. The ever- increasing availability of 3D models obtained by CT, surface scanning (SC) and/or photogrammetry Edited and reviewed by: (PT) is increasing the visibility and accessibility of rare, difficult to handle, remains, and therefore the Corwin Sullivan, number of virtual fossil representations that feature in scientific papers, contributing to this University of Alberta, Canada “revolution” and leading to the dawn of the “Virtual and Computational Paleontology” era. The *Correspondence: pioneering steps toward this new era were taken in the early 1980s, when Tate and Cann (1982) and Luca Pandolfi Conroy and Vannier (1984) became the first research teams to apply CT to Vertebrate Paleontology. luca.pandolfi@unifi.it Almost two decades later, the first applications of SC and PT to Vertebrate Paleontology opened the † ORCID: door to many new ideas and approaches (Lyons et al., 2000; Breithaupt and Matthews, 2001). Since Luca Pandolfi the beginning of this digital paleontological era, the number of scientists merging traditional orcid.org/0000-0002-4186-4126 techniques with virtualization and computational advances has greatly increased, a process that Pasquale Raia still continues (and the first comprehensive reviews were published a few years later - see Zollikofer orcid.org/0000-0002-4593-8006 and Ponce de Leon, 2005; Cardini and Loy, 2013; Sutton et al., 2014). Josep Fortuny Virtual (digital) representations have a great variety of non-invasive applications, including but orcid.org/0000-0003-4282-1619 not limited to digital curation (based on 3D models libraries), virtual restoration of specimens, and Lorenzo Rook orcid.org/0000-0001-8923-5428. anatomical studies of both external and internal morphological structures, and open up the opportunities for development of new analytical tools. Thanks to virtualization, many Specialty section: Computational analyses and techniques (including geometric morphometrics, finite element This article was submitted to analysis, multibody dynamic analysis, computational fluid dynamics, machine-learning, etc.) Paleontology, have been widely applied in Vertebrate Paleontology. Furthermore, their use is currently rapidly a section of the journal increasing thanks to continuing efforts to create more and better 3D virtual models, which are the Frontiers in Earth Science basis for new computational approaches. Despite these many benefits, Virtual and Computational Received: 05 August 2020 Paleontology is still not prevalent as it might be. Virtual data are therefore not broadly shared and Accepted: 25 September 2020 new methodologies and techniques usually do not easily reach the widest audience, in particular Published: 15 October 2020 younger researchers who usually show an insatiable hunger for learning and acquiring new skills. Citation: This Research Topic was conceived with the principal goal of spreading this technological Pandolfi L, Raia P, Fortuny J and Rook L (2020) Editorial: Evolving Virtual and knowledge and, by taking advantage of the Open Access format of Frontiers, was intended to reach Computational Paleontology. the widest possible number of researchers. The volume includes 15 different papers on the use and Front. Earth Sci. 8:591813. analysis of virtual representations and new computational methods, applied to several doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.591813 vertebrate taxa. Frontiers in Earth Science | www.frontiersin.org 1 October 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 591813 Pandolfi et al. Editorial: Virtual and Computational Paleontology 3D models of external structures, obtained by means of SC and redescribing the skull of the therocephalian Lycosuchus on the PT were the study subjects of several papers. Bartolini Lucenti basis of CT reconstruction. Püschel et al. studied a fossil primate et al. used a 3D visualization and digital imaging technique to from Cuba, Paralouatta, using 3D talar models and geometric study a new fossil canid from Georgia. They applied for the first morphometrics combined with machine-learning classification time augmented reality to a few specimens through a simple web algorithms to argue for some degree of terrestriality in this extinct app. A new virtual reconstruction protocol, called Target platyrrhine. Deformation, was applied by Cirilli et al., to 3D models of In addition, the Research Topic covers several other aspects fossil horse skulls. This method allowed to virtually restore the of Virtual and Computational Paleontology, including strongly deformed holotype of Equus stenonis by using methodological approaches and problems. Pérez Ramos and undeformed skull fragments of the same species found Figueirido focused on using virtual approaches to solve elsewhere. A caudal series of the dinosaur Giraffatitan was technical issues commonly encountered by paleontologists digitalized by Díez Díaz et al. via PT. The authors presented and evolutionary biologists. The authors proposed various the first detailed 3D volumetric reconstruction of the caudal solutions and used fossil skulls of the cave bears to test epaxial and hypaxial musculature of this sauropod. PT was at them. Piras et al. investigated visualization of local the core of Mujal et al.’s study, applied to Permian and Triassic deformation in modern shape analysis, considering tetrapod footprints. They used their 3D data to not only describe paleontological case studies and proposing new footprints but also to offer an initial qualitative interpretation of computational methods for evaluating and visualizing local relative depth patterns within the tracks and their functional deformations. Neutron microtomography was successfully implications. Serio et al. combined PT and geometric used by Zanolli et al. to extract, three-dimensionally render morphometrics to study morphological convergence in the and quantitatively assess the internal morphological details of humerus of Xenarthra. The authors suggested that the highly fossil hominid material from different localities and strata; specialized morphologies seen in digging taxa and tree sloths This Research Topic represents a new step in the development reflect major deviations from the plesiomorphic xenarthran body of methods for use of virtual representations of specimens by plan which occurred several times during the history of the group. the scientific community. The Topic also explores how these Morphological convergence was the issue with Sansalone et al. models provide the basis for numerous applications, who investigated the humeri of fossorial mammals by means of techniques and methodologies, providing new insights into CT scans. They showed that fossorial mammals evolved multiple vertebrate paleobiology. Finally, the Topic serves as both a strategies to exploit the subterranean ecotope, characterized by meeting point for the new generation of paleontologists and different functional trade-offs rather than by convergence toward evolutionary biologists, and an updated overview of Virtual a single adaptive optimum. and Computational Paleontology, a discipline that is rapidly Data on internal structures were obtained by means of CT evolving thanks to a never-ending stream of technological scans of several fossil taxa, and 3D models and images were improvements. analyzed using several techniques. In Boscaini et al. endocranial features of giant sloths revealed by CT, helps elucidating the evolutionary history of sloths, whereas Iurino et al. described the AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS first brain endocast of a juvenile fossil rhinoceros obtained via the CT method. Melchionna et al. used information on brain size and All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual asymmetry in Homo species to argue that the emergence of contribution to the work, and approved it for publication. handedness and early manifestations of cultural modernity nicely coincided with the emergence of the three species with the largest and most rapidly evolving brains among hominoids, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS namely Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. We would like to thank all reviewers for their contributions, and The variations in shape of stapes of Ruminantia was explored all authors of the submitted manuscripts. We also would like to by Mennecart et al. on 3D tomographic data, whereas Pusch et al. thank the editor Corwin Sullivan and the Frontiers Team for their reported endocranial data from Permo-Triassic therapsids, support and suggestions. Conroy, G. C., and Vannier, M. W. (1984). Noninvasive three-dimensional REFERENCES computer imaging of matrix-filled fossil skulls by high-resolution computed tomography. Science 226 (4673), 456–458. doi:10.1126/science.226.4673.456 Breithaupt, B. H., and Matthews, N. A. (2001). “Preserving paleontological resources Lyons, P. D., Rioux, M., and Patterson, R. T. (2000). Application of a three- using photogrammetry and geographic information systems,” in Crossing dimensional color laser scanner to paleontology: an interactive model of a boundaries in park management: proceedings of the 11th conference on research juvenile Tylosaurus sp. basisphenoid-basioccipital. Palaeontol. Electron. 3 (2), 4A. and resource management in parks and public lands, Denver, CO, April 16–20, Sutton, M. D., Rahman, I. A., and Garwood, R. J. (2014). Techniques for virtual 2001. Editor D. Harmon (Hancock, MI: The George Wright Society, Inc.), 62–70. palaeontology. London, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 208. Cardini, A., and Loy, A. (2013). Virtual morphology and evolutionary Tate, J. R., and Cann, C. E. (1982). High-resolution computed tomography for the morphometrics in the new millenium. Hystrix 24 (1), 1–5. doi:10.4404/ comparative study of fossil and extant bone. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 58 (1), hystrix-24.1-8749 67–73. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330580108 Frontiers in Earth Science | www.frontiersin.org 2 October 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 591813 Pandolfi et al. Editorial: Virtual and Computational Paleontology Zollikofer, C. P., and Ponce de Leon, M. (2005). Virtual reconstruction: a primer in Copyright © 2020 Pandolfi, Raia, Fortuny and Rook. This is an open-access article computer-assisted paleontology and biomedicine. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Sons, 333. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with potential conflict of interest. these terms. Frontiers in Earth Science | www.frontiersin.org 3 October 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 591813