Re: Diminutive dinosaurs

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> As far as I know the smallest adult dinosaur remains

*Mellisuga helenae* aka *Calypte helenae*, a hummingbird from Cuba and Isla
de Pinos, which weighs 2 g and is 9 cm long, of which 1.25 are made up by
the beak and 6.5 by the tail. Eats twice its body weight per day.

Oh, you mean the smallest nonavian one? :-) *Microraptor zhaoianus* -- 48
cm, smaller than *Archaeopteryx*.

> Compsognathus,

1.4 m long when adult (which the "60 cm" specimen from Germany isn't).

> with the baby Mussasaurus representing
> the smallest dinosaur of any age

The smallest known nonavian dinosaur specimen, yes, AFAIK.

> The simple answer is probably "No,
> because lizards and frogs etc. got there first"

"Etc." being mammals and... birds, means, dinosaurs. :-)