Lower jaw of the cladotherian Dryolestes with manually edited middle ear bones, based on illustrations in Kermack et al. (1973), Kermack et al. (1981) and Luo (2011). Depicted in color code are the following elements: yellow = Meckel’s cartilage, dark blue = ectotympanic, green = articular, white = surangular, beige = dentary.

The lower jaw of Dryolestes (GuiMam 3-78) was scanned at the Bonner Institute of Organismic Biology (BIOB, formerly Institute of Geosciences, Universität Bonn; section Palaeontology) using the v|tome|x s µCT device (GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies GmbH phoenix|x-ray). Scan parameters for Dryolestes: 240 tube, 90 kV, 180 µA, 333ms exposure time, no filter, voxel size 24.66 µm.

The 3D model of the lower jaw was segmented manually from CT scans using Avizo 8.1. (Visualization Sciences Group). The 3D models of the middle ear bones and Meckel’s cartilages were manually created using MAYA 16 (Autodesk) based on illustrations in Kermack et al. (1973), Kermack et al. (1981), Luo (2011), Luo et al. (2007), Luo et al. (2016), Ji et al. (2009), and Mao et al. (2020). 

For all models, fine tune editing and virtual alignment was performed using Polyworks (2014, InnovMetric Software Inc.) including Gouraud filters for smoothing surfaces, adding and removing triangles, reworking mesh and reducing data size.