In the fossil collection of the Dutch Teyler Museum, Yale Paleontologist John H. Ostrom spotted one musty specimen that turned out to be a far rarer prehistoric aviator: an Archaeopteryx.

Poking through the fossil collection of The Netherlands’ Teyler Museum in September, Yale Paleontologist John H. Ostrom spotted one musty specimen that looked odd to his trained eye. It was labeled pterosaur, a flying reptile that inhabited the earth from 65 to 200 million years ago. But when Ostrom held…