the downfall of the dinosaurs may be attributable to nothing more fearsome than the humble biting insect

Disease spread by mosquitos, ticks and mites could have been a major factor in the demise of the ancient reptiles

Research by George Poinar, a professor of zoology at Oregon State University in America, also found an explosion in the number of insects would have changed the nature of plant life on Earth, making it harder for dinosaurs to survive

Bees and other pollinators helped to promote the rapid spread of flowering plants, leading to the loss of vegetarian dinosaurs' traditional food sources

As the plant-eating dinosaurs declined, so would their predators

The theory helps explain why dinosaurs took so long to die off, according to Prof Poinar

The most widely-accepted explanation is that they were wiped out by a catastrophic asteroid strike off the coast of Mexico 65 million years ago