UMD entomologist helps bring the world’s ant diversity to life in 3D imagery

UMD entomologist helps bring the world’s ant diversity to life in 3D imagery

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1118004

Publish Date: 2026-03-05 05:13:00

Source Domain: www.eurekalert.org

• Evan Economo’s lab, along with Thomas van de Kamp and a team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has dramatically increased the efficiency of scanning insect specimens using a combination of a synchrotron particle accelerator, X-ray scanning, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and the developed workflow called Antscan.

• The new techniques reduced the scanning time of 2,000 specimens to just one week, compared to the six years it would take with traditional methods.

• The Antscan project aimed to create high-resolution 3D models of internal structures of 800 different ant species, revealing an array of anatomical details like muscles, nervous systems, and gastrointestinal tracts.

• The project is set to serve as a blueprint for digitizing the morphologies of other species, not just ants, contributing to what Economo terms as a “living library” for educational, research, and entertainment purposes.

• The detailed 3D models provided by Antscan have already made a significant impact in scientific research, such as studying the correlation between ant exoskeleton thickness, colony size, and diversity.

• The research findings from the high-fidelity scans could lead to advancements in genome sequencing related to morphology and eventually support machine learning models for field studies of ant behavior.

• The raw 3D model files are freely available for the research community, allowing further analysis and integration of these morphological datasets into broader research applications.

• Future plans include expanding the project to scan more specimens and continuously improving the integration of AI techniques to aid new datasets.