Dinosaurs · Small theropod

Ornitholestes

Say it Or-nith-oh-LES-teez. The name means ‘bird robber’.

Ornitholestes 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: 2 m
Diet: Meat-eater
When: Late Jurassic150 to 144 million years ago
Fossils found in: USA
Named by: Osbourne (1933)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Saurischia › Theropoda › Neotheropoda › Tetanurae › Avetheropoda › Coelurosauria

Where Ornitholestes 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

Camarasaurus · same country
Dryosaurus · same country
Gargoyleosaurus · same country
Haplocanthosaurus · same country
Hesperosaurus · same country
Marshosaurus · same country
Othnielia · same country
Saurophaganax · same country

Other small theropods

Archaeopteryx Late Jurassic
Juravenator Late Jurassic
Coelurus Late Jurassic
Compsognathus Late Jurassic
Guanlong Late Jurassic
Nqwebasaurus Mid Jurassic
Anchiornis Late Jurassic
Proceratosaurus Mid Jurassic

Source: Ornitholestes 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.