diff --git a/examples/osgvolume/osgvolume.cpp b/examples/osgvolume/osgvolume.cpp
index cc07b156f..a7fb0d28a 100644
--- a/examples/osgvolume/osgvolume.cpp
+++ b/examples/osgvolume/osgvolume.cpp
@@ -1107,11 +1107,29 @@ int main( int argc, char **argv )
         int pos=images_pos+1;
         for(;pos<arguments.argc() && !arguments.isOption(pos);++pos)
         {
-            // not an option so assume string is a filename.
-            osg::Image *image = osgDB::readImageFile( arguments[pos]);
-            if(image)
+            std::string arg(arguments[pos]);
+            if (arg.find('*') != std::string::npos)
             {
-                imageList.push_back(image);
+                osgDB::DirectoryContents contents = osgDB::expandWildcardsInFilename(arg);
+                for (unsigned int i = 0; i < contents.size(); ++i)
+                {
+                    osg::Image *image = osgDB::readImageFile( contents[i] );
+
+                    if(image)
+                    {
+                        imageList.push_back(image);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                // not an option so assume string is a filename.
+                osg::Image *image = osgDB::readImageFile( arguments[pos] );
+
+                if(image)
+                {
+                    imageList.push_back(image);
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/include/osgDB/FileUtils b/include/osgDB/FileUtils
index 3eb1b7c74..df90edbbd 100644
--- a/include/osgDB/FileUtils
+++ b/include/osgDB/FileUtils
@@ -66,11 +66,18 @@ extern OSGDB_EXPORT std::string findFileInDirectory(const std::string& fileName,
 /** simple list of names to represent a directory's contents. */
 typedef std::vector<std::string> DirectoryContents;
 
-/** return the contents of a directory.
-  * returns an empty array on any error.*/
+/** Return the contents of a directory.
+  * Return value will contain filenames only, not absolute paths.
+  * Returns an empty array on any error.*/
 extern OSGDB_EXPORT DirectoryContents getDirectoryContents(const std::string& dirName);
 
-
+/** Return the list of filenames that match the given filename with wildcards.
+  * Will only expand '*', and will not expand wildcards in directory, only in 
+  * filename part of the given filename. 
+  * Return value will contain path+filename so that if ever the above 
+  * limitation (expanding wildcards in directory) is fixed, client code will 
+  * still work unchanged. */
+extern OSGDB_EXPORT DirectoryContents expandWildcardsInFilename(const std::string& filename);
 
 namespace FileOpResult {
     enum Value
diff --git a/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp b/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp
index 479089e7f..ede10b99c 100644
--- a/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp
+++ b/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp
@@ -530,6 +530,39 @@ static void appendInstallationLibraryFilePaths(osgDB::FilePathList& filepath)
 #endif // unix getDirectoryContexts
 
 
+osgDB::DirectoryContents osgDB::expandWildcardsInFilename(const std::string& filename)
+{
+    osgDB::DirectoryContents contents;
+
+    std::string dir = osgDB::getFilePath(filename);
+    std::string filenameOnly = filename.substr(dir.length(), std::string::npos);
+    std::string left = filenameOnly.substr(0, filenameOnly.find('*'));
+    std::string right = filenameOnly.substr(filenameOnly.find('*')+1, std::string::npos);
+
+    if (dir.empty())
+        dir = osgDB::getCurrentWorkingDirectory();
+
+    osgDB::DirectoryContents dirContents = osgDB::getDirectoryContents(dir);
+    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < dirContents.size(); ++i)
+    {
+        std::string filenameInDir = dirContents[i];
+
+        if (filenameInDir == "." ||
+            filenameInDir == "..")
+        {
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        if ((filenameInDir.find(left) == 0 || left.empty()) &&
+            (filenameInDir.find(right) == filenameInDir.length() - right.length() || right.empty()))
+        {
+            contents.push_back( dir + osgDB::getNativePathSeparator() + filenameInDir );
+        }
+    }
+
+    return contents;
+}
+
 osgDB::FileOpResult::Value osgDB::copyFile(const std::string & source, const std::string & destination)
 {
     if (source.empty() || destination.empty())