-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Canadian researchers say they have discovered the smallest known North American dinosaur , a carnivore that roamed areas of the continent 75 million years ago and weighed less than most modern-day house cats . Researchers say Hesperonychus , whose name means `` western claw , '' was about 1.6 feet tall . Hesperonychus elizabethae , a 4.4-pound -LRB- 2-kilogram -RRB- creature with razor-like claws , ran through the swamps and forests of southeastern Alberta , Canada , during the late Cretaceous period , the researchers said . The diminutive dinosaur likely hunted insects , small mammals and other prey , perhaps even baby dinosaurs , said Nick Longrich , a paleontology research associate in the University of Calgary 's Department of Biological Sciences . `` It 's basically a predator of small things , '' Longrich said . Longrich co-wrote a paper on the dinosaur with University of Alberta paleontologist Philip Currie . The paper appeared in Monday 's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . The researchers said the clawed dinosaur was slight , ran on two legs and had dagger-like teeth . It had an enlarged sickle-shaped claw on its second toe , the researchers said . Although fossilized remains of Hesperonychus were collected in 1982 , they remained unstudied until Longrich came across them in the University of Alberta 's collection in 2007 , the university said . Because of their size , some of the fossilized parts had been thought to be from juveniles . Longrich said he suspected the claws had come from another , smaller adult species , but said finding a fossilized pelvis in which the hip bones were fused -- which happens only once an animal is fully grown -- convinced him . `` The claws were kind of a bread-crumb trail that we followed along , '' until finding the well-preserved pelvis , Longrich said . Longrich and Currie determined that Hesperonychus , whose name means `` western claw , '' stood about 1.6 feet -LRB- 50 centimeters -RRB- high . Albertonykus borealis , a 2.5-foot-long insectivore , had been previously thought to be the smallest North American dinosaur . Longrich came across the dinosaur 's bones in storage at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller and decided to analyze them , Canadian Broadcasting Company reported in September . A dinosaur smaller than Hesperonychus has been found in China , Longrich said . He said he found searching through museums ' storage more productive in the short term than working in the field . `` People collect stuff so much more quickly than they can process , '' he said . CNN 's Taylor Gandossy contributed to this report .