Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Favorite Maniraptor of 2014 Results


Much as I predicted, Anzu took this one by a landslide. Changyuraptor came in second, to be expected for a well-preserved dromaeosaurid. I appear to have been the only one who voted for Eopengornis, but come on, check out that fossil. Not to mention the interesting implications for rectricial evolution in avialans (possibly confirmed by the publication of Chiappeavis last year).

Holotype of Eopengornis, from Wang et al., 2014.

As for this year's poll? We have two dromaeosaurids as strong contenders, the giant Dakotaraptor and the excellently-preserved Zhenyuanlong (both of which, coincidentally, preserve evidence that wings were retained in flightless dromaeosaurids), but I imagine the unexpectedly bizarre Yi will be tough to beat.

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