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| Archaeopteryx may have been a flightless predator scurrying among tropical trees |
Archaeopteryx caused a major stir when the first fossil was unearthed in 1861 - just two years after Charles Darwin published On The Origin of Species.
With the claws and teeth of a dinosaur, but the feathers of a bird, it was immediately recognised as a transitional form - proof of Darwin's theory.
Hailed as "the first true bird", the discovery shook the scientific community. Not bad for an animal as small as a magpie - only 20 inches from head to tail.
In recent years, more primitive bird ancestors have been unearthed in Liaoning, China. But the fascination with Archaeopteryx has endured - driven by the unsolved mystery over its ability to fly.
Around 150 million years ago, the modern-day region of Germany where Archaeopteryx lived was an archipelago of islands in a shallow tropical sea, covered in lush vegetation.
"We want to know how Archaeopteryx lived," says Martin Roeper, curator of the Solnhofen Museum, which houses one of the specimens.
"Was he a little dinosaur running, climbing trees - or was he flying? That's the most important question. Could Archaeopteryx fly or not?"
"Now that we see the whole wings - now everyone can see this really is a very fine specimen”
The answer grows closer as new, microscopic details of its anatomy emerge from ever more precise scans.
Blood vessels within the bones, for example, can be compared to modern birds.
"What is really remarkable are the feathers - they are far more visible by this new scan than by looking at the original specimen," says Paul Tafforeau.
"But that's not all, because this technique reveals a lot about the anatomy that's not visible below the surface.
"You can see many hidden details inside the stone. With these we can better understand what Archaeopteryx really was."
If this X-ray spectacle can be repeated with other famous fossils, there may be other discoveries that ruffle the feathers of established wisdom.
