Top 5 Facts: Smallest dinosaurs

Microraptor

This tiny raptor, resembling an odd-shaped pigeon, lived in the early cretaceous period. It measured no more than a foot from head to tail and weighed less than a kilogram.

Raptorex

Gracing the Earth 60 million years before T-rex, raptorex is the smallest tyrannosaur discovered so far, weighing less than 154lb (70kg), much less than it’s famous cousin.

Europasaurus

Sauropods are usually considered to be extremely large, but the under-a-ton sauropod europasaurus was comparable in size to a modern ox, averaging about ‘only’ 3m (10ft) in length.

Nemicolopterus

This pterosaur is the smallest known ‘flying dinosaur’. It had a wingspan of 25cm (10 inches) and weighed about 0.1kg (0.2lb). It came about 50 million years before the quetzalcoatlus, the largest pterosaur of all time.

Lariosaurus

Lariosaurus is the smallest marine reptile discovered to date. It was about 0.6m (2ft) long and weighed 9kg, becoming extinct at the end of the Triassic period.