The early Cambrian (~541–485 Ma) witnessed an unprecedented diversification of animal body plans, commonly termed the (Conway‑Morris 1998; Erwin & Valentine 2013). Classical studies have largely relied on two‑dimensional (2‑D) photography and manual measurements, limiting the detection of subtle morphological features and hampering rigorous quantitative analyses (Zhang et al. 2020). Recent advances in non‑destructive imaging—particularly synchrotron radiation X‑ray μCT—have opened new windows onto fossil internal anatomy (Sutton et al. 2019). Simultaneously, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) now enable automated segmentation of complex structures, reducing observer bias and increasing throughput (Ribeiro et al. 2022).
Scanning was performed at the (energy 30 keV, voxel size 0.7 µm). Projection images (2,048 × 2,048 px) were reconstructed using the filtered back‑projection algorithm (ASTRA Toolbox v1.9). Phase‑retrieval was applied to enhance soft‑tissue contrast (Paganin et al. 2002). ginasavagex cambro
Morphological mapping identified of complex grasping appendages (e.g., raptorial limbs, spiny ventral plates). Phylogenetic comparative methods (Phylogenetic ANOVA) confirmed convergence (p = 0.004), suggesting ecological pressure rather than shared ancestry drove these innovations. spiny ventral plates).
