Dinosaurs · Small theropod

Microraptor

Say it MIKE-roe-rap-tor. The name means ‘tiny plunderer’.

Microraptor beside a person 1.75 m tall. Ticks mark every metre.Body shape drawn for this site, showing the general build of small theropods

Length: 0.8 m
Weight: 1 kg
Diet: Meat-eaterother animals, including fish, lizards and possibly insects
Walked: On 2 legs, gliding or flying
When: Early Cretaceousabout 120 million years ago
Fossils found in: China
Named by: Xu, Zhou and Wang (2000)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Saurischia › Theropoda › Dromaeosauridae

Where Microraptor sits in the age of dinosaurs.Periods from the ICS chart; dinosaur dates from the Natural History Museum

Small theropods. Small two-legged dinosaurs, many feathered, the group that includes birds. See all 60

Lived at the same time

Archaeoceratops · same country
Equijubus · same country
Gobisaurus · same country
Probactrosaurus · same country
Protarchaeopteryx · same country
Psittacosaurus · same country
Sinornithosaurus · same country
Atlascopcosaurus

Other small theropods

Harpymimus Early Cretaceous
Protarchaeopteryx Early Cretaceous
Sinornithosaurus Early Cretaceous
Caudipteryx Early Cretaceous
Deinonychus Early Cretaceous
Sinocalliopteryx Early Cretaceous
Sinosauropteryx Early Cretaceous
Shanag Early Cretaceous

Source: Microraptor in the Natural History Museum Dino Directory, read 12 November 2026. Sizes are the museum's estimates for a typical adult. "Lived at the same time" lists dinosaurs whose dates overlap, which does not always mean they met.