Favorite Maniraptor of 2017 Results

Longtime readers will notice that this post comes at an unusual time of the year. I hadn't planned on retiring more than one of my few annual traditions on here, but thanks to external circumstances outside of my control, it looks like I might have to.

A few months ago, Blogger got rid of its poll widget, bringing my ongoing poll on newly-named maniraptors of 2017 to a premature close. Probably needless to say, this will also prevent me from hosting these polls in future years. There are plenty of other sites that allow for poll creation, but I suspect the voter base would greatly diminish if the polls weren't hosted on the blog itself. And though embedding a third-party poll on the blog by editing the HTML is a possibility, it sounds like too much work to spend on a bit of frivolity.

Without further ado, presenting the results of perhaps the last ever annual favorite maniraptor poll on Raptormaniacs...

Unsurprisingly, the unusual, possibly semi-aquatic dromaeosaurid Halszkaraptor took the lead by a long shot. Coming in second was the large troodont Latenivenatrix, and third place went to the well-preserved anchiornithid Serikornis. I was somewhat disappointed to see that no one picked Cruralispennia, despite it being the subject of one of my most popular blog posts. This was particularly jarring given that even Junornis (a bog-standard enantiornithine by comparison) got one vote, though I will admit that its holotype looks spectacular. More astounding was the fact that Corythoraptor, a tall-crested oviraptorid, also failed to gain any votes.

As it happens, 2017 also saw the publication of several new maniraptors that took some time to filter into the online paleontology community and thus did not make it into my poll. These new taxa include:

• Awengkere: A large diving duck from the Miocene of Australia.
  
• Deliaphaps: A pigeon from the Miocene of New Zealand, likely closely related to the Nicobar pigeon and the dodo.
  
• Microenantiornis: A small enantiornithine (shocker!) from the Early Cretaceous of China.
  
• Miocariama: A seriema from the Miocene of Argentina. The holotype was formerly referred to Noriegavis, which the describers reevaluate as a synonym of the falcon Thegornis.
  
• Pampagyps: A condor from the Pleistocene-Holocene of Argentina.
  

Among these, Microenantiornis escaped notice by having been published in an obscure Chinese journal. The others were named in a printed volume, the conference proceedings of the 9th SAPE meeting (held in 2016). Even now, the description of Miocariama has to my knowledge yet to appear in digital format.

Favorite Maniraptor of 2016 Results

Last year was a close race, but the unusual Fukuivenator narrowly won against Tongtianlong, an oviraptorosaur known from a nearly complete skeleton preserved in three dimensions. Coming in third place was Apatoraptor, one of the most completely known caenagnathid oviraptorosaurs.

These polls are inevitably biased in favor of taxa that receive more press. Though a truly level playing field is impossible to achieve, I will try something new this year by providing a concise blurb for each contestant and links to their original description papers. This way at least, none of the taxa will be complete unknowns. That being said, I suspect one particular genus already has this year in the bag...

• Albertavenator: A troodont from the Late Cretaceous of Canada. Known from a single bone in the skull.
  
• Almas: A small troodont from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Known from a partial skeleton including a nearly complete skull. It has been included in several phylogenetic analyses in the past, but wasn't named until last year.
  
• Aprosdokitos: A small penguin from the Eocene of Antarctica. Known from a single upper arm bone.
  
• Beibeilong: An oviraptorosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China. Known from an embryo long nicknamed "Baby Louie" as well as several eggs. Its adult size would have been comparable to that of Gigantoraptor, the largest known oviraptorosaur.
  
• Chupkaornis: A hesperornithine from the Late Cretaceous of Japan. Known from a partial skeleton including parts of the vertebral column and hind limbs. It is the most completely known Asian hesperornithine.
  
• Corythoraptor: An oviraptorosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China, one of many recently named from the Nanxiong Formation. Known from a nearly complete skeleton. It had a particularly tall crest on its head.
  
• Crexica: A rail from the Miocene of Russia. Known from partial limb bones.
  
• Cruralispennia: An enantiornithine from the Early Cretaceous of China. Known from a mostly complete skeleton with preserved feathers. It had several features unusual for an enantiornithine, including strap-like feathers on its legs and wings as well as a rapid growth rate.
  
• Daliansaurus: A troodont from the Early Cretaceous of China. Known from a nearly complete skeleton.
  
• Diomedavus: A small albatross from the Oligocene of the USA. Known from parts of the limbs and hip as well as a single neck vertebra.
  
• Garrdimalga: A large megapode from the Pleistocene of Australia. Known from parts of the limbs and skull.
  
• Halszkaraptor: A small dromaeosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Known from a nearly complete skeleton. It had some unusual anatomical features suggesting that it foraged in the water, including numerous teeth, a long neck, and paddle-like forelimbs.
  
• Jianianhualong: A troodont from the Early Cretaceous of China. Known from a nearly complete skeleton with preserved feathers.
  
• Junornis: An enantiornithine from the Early Cretaceous of China. Known from a mostly complete skeleton with preserved feathers. The size and shape of its wings suggest that it used bounding flight, similar to many small extant birds.
  
• Kumimanu: A large penguin from the Paleocene of New Zealand. Known from a partial skeleton including parts of the limbs, hip, and vertebral column. Among the most completely known giant penguins.
  
• Latagallina: A large megapode from the Pleistocene of Australia. Known from several specimens, including one that is nearly complete. The type species was formerly considered a species of Progura.
  
• Latenivenatrix: A large troodont from the Late Cretaceous of Canada. Known from several specimens, including a partial skeleton. Many of these were formerly considered specimens of Troodon. The largest troodont known, estimated at over 3 m long.
  
• Liaoningvenator: Yet another troodont from the Early Cretaceous of China. Known from a nearly complete skeleton.
  
• Maaqwi: A euornithine from the Late Cretaceous of Canada. Known from parts of a forelimb. Its thickened bone walls suggest that it was a diving seabird.
  
• Miohypotaenidia: A rail from the Miocene of Russia. Known from partial limb bones.
  
• Ostromia: A basal paravian from the Late Jurassic of Germany. Known from a partial skeleton including parts of the limbs and faintly-preserved wing feathers. The holotype has had a convoluted taxonomic history, having been mistaken for a pterosaur and later considered a specimen of Archaeopteryx.
  
• Piscivorenantiornis: An enantiornithine from the Early Cretaceous of China. Known from a partial skeleton along with a possible pellet containing fish bones.
  
• Serikornis: A basal paravian from the Late Jurassic of China. Known from a complete skeleton with "silky" feathers preserved all over its body.
  
• Tsidiiyazhi: A stem-mousebird from the Paleocene of the USA. Known from a partial skeleton. The oldest known member of the "core landbird" clade Telluraves.
  
• Vanolimicola: A shorebird-like bird from the Eocene of Germany. Known from a partial skeleton.
  
• Zhongjianosaurus: A small dromaeosaurid from the Early Cretaceous of China. Known from a partial skeleton. One of the smallest dromaeosaurids known.
  

Favorite Maniraptor of 2015 Results

My predictions were on the money, as Yi (deservedly) took this one, followed by Dakotaraptor and then Zhenyuanlong. I liked that a Cenozoic maniraptor (Llallawavis) did fairly well for once. Meanwhile, Boreonykus shows that you can gain a decent number of votes as long as you are purportedly a dromaeosaurid, even if you are known from nothing but scrap.

This year's poll looks to be less predictable, as there was no outstanding new maniraptor superstar last year. My guess is that the crown will go to either the enigmatic Fukuivenator or one of the new oviraptorosaurs.

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.

New poll for last year's maniraptors up

From the limited number of votes, it would look like Skull is the current fan favorite! Was it because of the stunts he pulled in Turn to Stone? His quest for popularity may not be so hopeless after all.

At the other end of the scale, poor Savape, not that she would care. I recognize that she has probably some of the least character depth even by this comic's standards as of yet. An implicit goal of mine with the use of the Tumblr askblog and the longer form stories is to occasionally showcase other facets of the characters beyond their base concepts, which were frankly very one-note. We'll see what the future holds for Savape and the others.

For the rest of the year, it's back to our regularly scheduled "favorite newly-named maniraptor" poll. I suspect that first place will not be much of a contest considering the buildup and hype we had for Anzu, which, in addition to that, is a charismatically-sized animal. Second place, however, may be up for grabs.

Favorite Maniraptor of 2013 Results

Acheroraptor took the lead and Aurornis was runner-up! Not terrifically unpredictable. My personal choice was Piscivoravis, which didn't do badly for a Mesozoic euornithine that didn't get much press.

I'll put up a new maniraptors of 2014 poll at some point, but I figure a month will not make a big difference for a survey that runs for nearly a year, so I'm going to poll a different subject this time for a short while. Several readers have told me their favorite Raptormaniacs characters lately and the results are quite varied across the board, making me curious about overall preferences. In addition, the Tumblr has been running for a fair amount of time now and with the completion of last year's storyline, I feel that I have provided enough incipient characterization introduced for decisions to be made. I look forward to seeing/reading your responses.

Favorite Maniraptor of 2012 Results

I figured the poll last year would be unpredictable, and it was. For once, an alvarezsaur victory in Bonapartenykus! I'm even more surprised by Martharaptor coming in second place given its fragmentary nature, but maybe everyone was excited about the first new (potential) therizinosaur we'd gotten in a while. My other favorite, Schizooura, didn't do badly either.

New poll is up. You know the drill.

Favorite Maniraptor of 2011 Results

The results of last year's poll are in. While not as one-sided as the poll for 2010, we have a clear winner in the troodont Talos, followed by the basal paravian Xiaotingia. Not much of a surprise there!

A new poll for last year's newly-named maniraptor genera is now up as well, so go ahead and vote.

Favorite Maniraptor of 2010 Results

Last year I put up a poll on the blog for everyone's favorite newly-named maniraptor genus. Here's a pie chart showing the results.

Balaur won, what a surprise (by which I mean not a surprise at all). Fortunately, Haplocheirus came in second place, followed by Linheraptor. I was surprised to see that Xixianykus had gotten a (comparatively) decent amount of votes.

Now, the time has come for a new poll. I have tried to avoid taxa that are technically still in press and will probably be officially published later this year. We didn't get a double-killing-clawed dromaeosaurid last year, so this one looks somewhat more unpredictable. Let the voting begin!

Edit: Pamparaptor is misspelled on the poll. As I can no longer edit the poll, it'll be there for the rest of the year.