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September 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

Latest comment: 5 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

WP:TOLN

September 2019—Issue 006

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk Onychopterella by Super Dromaeosaurus Western yellow robin by Casliber Western yellow robin by Casliber, reviewed by Josh Milburn Apororhynchus by Mattximus, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Pekarangan by Dhio-270599, reviewed by Cerebellum Fritillaria by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Embioptera by Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by Vanamonde93 Durio graveolens by NessieVL, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Big brown bat by Enwebb and Gen. Quon, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 King brown snake by Casliber, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Staffordshire Bull Terrier by Atsme, reviewed by FunkMonk Ambush predator by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Enwebb Belemnitida by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Chiswick Chap

Newly nominated content
Apororhynchus by Mattximus Meinhard Michael Moser by J Milburn St. Croix macaw by FunkMonk Paleocene by Dunkleosteus77 Orcinus meyeri by Dunkleosteus77 Snakefly by Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth Tricolored bat by Enwebb Halloween darter by Enwebb

News at a Glance

An end in sight for the WikiCup

The 2019 WikiCup is in its fifth and final round, with two of the eight remaining contestants from the ToL community. The 2016 winner Casliber is in first place as of 1 October, and Enwebbb is in seventh place.

Getting spooky for Halloween

It's the most wonderful time of the year...Halloween, that is. With articles on skeleton frogs, ghost bats, and Satanic nightjars, Wikipedia has more spooky taxa than a graveyard has ghosts. In the new Spooky Species Contest, Tree of Life editors are turning Wikipedia into Spookypedia, working from a crowd-sourced list of taxa. There's still time to sign up! How can you let an article like Draculoides bramstokeri pass you by?

The never-ending article title

September saw the creation of (takes deep inhalation) Cneoridium dumosum (Nuttall) Hooker F. Collected March 26, 1960, at an Elevation of about 1450 Meters on Cerro Quemazón, 15 Miles South of Bahía de Los Angeles, Baja California, México, Apparently for a Southeastward Range Extension of Some 140 Miles. Just two characters shy of Wikipedia's limit on article title length, Cneoridium dumosum...140 Miles now has the longest article title of any on English Wikipedia. In contrast to its verbose title, the journal article that is the subject of the article is only five words long.

Welcoming WikiProject Diptera and Project Creation Trends

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Active
Others

Tree of Life subprojects and task forces by start year and whether currently considered active or not

This month saw a vanishingly rare occurrence for the Tree of Life: a new WikiProject joined the fold. WikiProject Diptera, however, is also unusual in being a classroom project. Whether or not this project will stay active once the semester ends remains to be seen. It does not bode well, however, that WP:WikiProject Vespidae—a creation from the same instructor at St. Louis University—faded to obscurity shortly after the fall semester concluded in 2014. WikiProject Vespidae is defunct and now redirects to the Hymenoptera task force of WikiProject Insects.

Since 2014, the Tree of Life has seen a string of years where one or zero projects or task forces were created. The only projects and task forces created since then are WikiProject Animal anatomy (2014), Hymenoptera task force (2016), Bats task force (2017), WikiProject Hypericaceae (2018), and now WikiProject Diptera (2019). The year 2006 saw the greatest creation of WikiProjects and task forces, with fourteen still active and the remaining six as "semiactive", "inactive", or "defunct".

September DYKs

Enischnomyia fossil in Dominican amber

Lebombo wattle in the sand forest

Betula leopoldae leaf fossil

Pholiota squarrosoides

Lady Burton's rope squirrel

A child picks chili peppers in an Indonesian home garden.

... that the Natal cycad and the dune false currant are among the 1,900 endemic plant species found in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot? (1 September)
... that the Ethiopian epauletted fruit bat uses its hind feet to comb its fur and its tongue to wash its face, wing membranes, and genital region? (3 September)
... that the scaly ground roller mostly eats earthworms and centipedes, but has been known to also eat frogs, lizards, and shrews? (4 September)
... that Kihaule's mouse shrew is named after the medical-entomological technician who collected the type specimen from the Udzungwa Mountains in Tanzania? (5 September)
... that the bat fly Enischnomyia (pictured) was first described from a specimen fossilized with Vetufebrus malaria in its gut? (5 September)
... that Duthie's golden mole and the long-tailed forest shrew are among the wildlife of South Africa that are both endemic and "vulnerable"? (7 September)
... that the Lebombo wattle (pictured), the water ironplum, and the Zulu coshwood grow in the Southern African Sand Forest, where they are often swathed in pinhead orchids and other epiphytes? (8 September)
... that Zenker's fruit bat often forages in areas of forest where Haumania liebrechtsiana grows, a plant favoured by gorillas and chimpanzees? (8 September)
... that the hard seeds of the Guinea plum are dispersed by elephants, and crushed and eaten by Sanje mangabeys? (9 September)
... that the extinct birch Betula leopoldae (leaf fossil pictured) is named after conservationist Estella Leopold? (10 September)
... that the Namib day gecko can sprint at 2.5 m/s (8 ft/s) in bright light? (10 September)
... that there are believed to be fewer than 100 mature specimens of Dacrydium guillauminii, which is considered critically endangered? (11 September)
... that the parasite Enteromyxum scophthalmi causes a severe illness in farmed turbot for which no cure is known? (13 September)
... that the nymphs of the mayfly Ephemera simulans are able to burrow? (14 September)
... that the Asian garden dormouse can enter torpor, a state in which it may remain for several days? (14 September)
... that Alexander's bush squirrel is named after Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, a British Army officer, explorer, and ornithologist? (15 September)
... that the mushroom Pholiota squarrosoides (pictured) has decayed logs of the trees Acer saccharum and Tilia glabra in the Great Lakes region of the US? (15 September)
... that a dark form of the Angolan slender mongoose is found to the south of the Cunene River and a pale form to the north? (16 September)
... that clover grass used to grow in the Pacific Ocean, but has not been seen there since a severe storm in 1996? (16 September)
... that despite the Zulu serotine bat having a widespread distribution in Africa, it is not known where it roosts during the day? (17 September)
... that Lady Burton's rope squirrel (pictured) was named in honour of Isabel Burton, wife of British explorer Sir Richard Burton? (17 September)
... that there is a myth that the pieces of the broken tail of the slender glass lizard can grow into new lizards? (18 September)
... that Thomas's rope squirrel can communicate with other squirrels vocally or by stamping? (18 September)
... that the cut flesh of the bitter tooth mushroom smells of watermelon? (19 September)
... that although honeynut squash originated about forty years ago, it has only been in markets for four years? (19 September)
... that the phloem sap of Phyllanthus balgooyi contains up to 16.9 per cent nickel by weight, giving it a bright green color? (20 September)
... that although Schreber's yellow bat is believed to be an insectivore, the related white-bellied yellow bat has been observed to eat dead bats in captivity? (20 September)
... that nests of the black-tailed tree rat resemble those of the red-billed buffalo weaver? (21 September)
... that jackfruits and chili peppers (pictured) are among the many crops planted in Indonesian home gardens? (22 September)
... that the African tropical tree Pouteria adolfi-friedericii was named after a German explorer? (23 September)
... that the Celebes warty pig has been domesticated and introduced into other Indonesian islands? (23 September)
... that the metabolic rate of Rhoptropus bradfieldi is about a quarter of that of other desert lizards? (24 September)
... that the dune hairy-footed gerbil locates its burrows close to plants, where the roots stabilise the shifting sand? (28 September)

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October 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

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October 2019—Issue 007

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Meinhard Michael Moser‎ by J Milburn Paleocene by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Casliber Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee by Hunter Kahn, reviewed by Valereee Halloween darter by Enwebb and Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by J Milburn Deathwatch beetle by Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by Enwebb

Newly nominated content
King brown snake by Casliber Paleocene by Dunkleosteus77 Megarachne by Ichthyovenator List of canids by PresN Devils Hole pupfish by Enwebb Dryomyza anilis by AnuBalasubramanian Plasmodium knowlesi by Ajpolino Black coral by Aven13

News at a Glance

The first Spooky Species Contest wrapped up this week. Two articles were promoted to Good Article as a result (Halloween darter and Deathwatch beetle) and three Did You Know hooks on Halloween were related to the contest (Halloween darter, skeleton frog, and Coffin Cave mold beetle. Two new articles were created, including Longan witches broom-associated virus and Boophis popi, the skeleton frog species that appeared at DYK.
The 2020 Community Wishlist Survey is live (focusing on non-Wikipedia content projects), with two proposals so far for WikiSpecies. The Wikimedia Foundation will prioritize the top 5 proposals across all sister projects.
The 2019 WikiCup has finally concluded, with Casliber taking home the bronze. The bulk of their points this round came from two Featured Articles: rock parrot and western yellow robin.

Alphabet Soup: Explaining DYK, GA, FA, and More

By request from another editor, this month I wrote an overview of ways that content is featured on Wikipedia. Below I have outlined some of the processes for getting content featured:

Did You Know (DYK)

What is it: A way for articles to appear on the main page of Wikipedia. A short hook in the format of "Did you know...that ___" presents unusual and interesting facts to the reader, hopefully making the reader want to click through to the article

How it works: The DYK process has fairly low barriers for participation. The eligibility criteria are few and relatively easy to meet. Some important guidelines:

To be eligible, article is either new (newly created or moved to mainspace), a 5x expansion, or passed a GA review. Its creation, expansion, or promotion to GA must have been in the past 7 days.
Article must be long enough, with more than 1,500 characters of prose (this doesn't include embedded lists)
- I find Shubinator's DYKcheck script useful in determining whether an article is eligible for nomination.

The process for creating the nomination is somewhat tedious. Instructions can be found here (official instructions) and here ("quick and nice" guide to DYK). Experience is the best teacher here, so don't be afraid to try and fail a few times. The last few DYK nominations I've done, however, have been with the help of SD0001's DYK-helper script, which makes the process a bit more streamlined (you create the template from a popup box on the article; created template is automatically transcluded to nominations page and article talk page)

Once your nomination is created and transcluded, it will need to be reviewed. The reviewer will check that the article meets the eligibility criteria, that the hook is short enough, cited, and interesting, and that other requirements are met, such as for images. If you've been credited with more than 5 DYKs, the reviewer will also check that you've reviewed someone else's nomination for each article that you nominate. This is called QPQ (quid pro quo). You can check how many credited DYKs you've had here to see if QPQ is required for you to nominate an article for DYK.

Good Article (GA)

What it is: A peer review process to determine that an article meets a set of criteria. This adds a symbol to the top of the article. About 1 in 200 articles on Wikipedia is a GA.

How it works: You follow the instructions to nominate an article, placing a template on its talk page. Anyone can nominate an article—you don't have to be a major contributor, though it is considered polite to inform the major contributors that you are nominating the article. The article is added to a queue to await a review. In the ToL, it seems that reviews happen pretty quickly, thanks to our dedicated members. Once the review begins, the reviewer will offer suggestions to help the article meet the 6 GA criteria. Upon addressing all concerns, the reviewer will pass the article, and voilà! Good Article!

Advice to a first-time nominator: Look at other Good Articles in related areas before nominating. If you're unsure about nominating, consider posting to the talk page of your project to see what other editors think. You can also have a more experienced editor co-nominate the article with you.

Featured Article (FA)

What it is: An exhaustive peer review to determine that an articles meets the criteria. This adds a to the top of the article. About 1 in 1,000 articles on Wikipedia is a FA.

How it works: You follow the instructions to nominate an article, placing a template on its talk page. Nominated articles are usually GAs already. Uninvolved editors can nominate, though the article's regular editors should be consulted first. Several editors will come by offering feedback, eventually supporting or opposing promotion to FA. A coordinator will determine if there is consensus to promote the article to FA. For an editor's first FA, spot checks to verify that the sources support the text are conducted.

Advice to a first-time nominator: The Featured Article Candidate (FAC) process is a bit intimidating, but several steps can make your first one easier (speaking as someone who has exactly one). If you also did the GA nomination of the article, you can ask the reviewer for "extra" feedback beyond the GA criteria. You can also formally request a peer review and/or a copy edit from the Guild of Copy Editors to check for content and mechanics. First-time nominators are encouraged to seek the help of a mentor for a higher likelihood of passing their first FAC.

Good and Featured Topics (GT and FT)

What it is: It took me a while to realize we even had GT and FT on Wikipedia, as they are not very common relative to GA and FA. Both GT and FT are collections of related articles of high quality (all articles at GA or FA, all lists at Featured List). GT/FT have to be at least 3 articles with no obvious gaps in coverage of the topic, along with other criteria. For GT, all articles have to be GA quality and all lists must be FL. For FT, at least half the articles must be FA or FL, with the remaining articles at GA.

How it works: Follow the nomination procedures for creating a new topic or adding an article to an existing topic. Other editors weigh in to support or oppose the proposal. Coordinators determine if there is consensus to promote to GT/FT.

Advice to a first-time nominator: There are very few GT/FT in Tree of Life (5 GT and 11 FT). Most of the legwork appears to be improving a cohesive set of articles to GA/FA.

October DYKs

Female apple maggot

... that the silk made by webspinners is produced from glands on their forelegs? (1 October)
... that falguera, a plant known from only one valley in Spain, is threatened by rock climbers and by road maintenance? (1 October)
... that the nudibranch Tritoniella belli is avoided by several predatory starfishes but is inefficiently preyed on by the sea anemone Isotealia antarctica? (5 October)
... that larvae of the drain fly can be found in trickling filter systems used to process sewage? (6 October)
... that the correct spelling of "liliifolia" in the name of the orchid Liparis liliifolia has been debated for decades? (7 October)
... that Polish entomologist Sergiusz Toll amassed a collection of about 8,000 bird eggs and 12,000 butterflies and moths while in Bydgoszcz? (10 October)
... that the female garden symphylan stores sperm in its mouth? (11 October)
... that adult apple maggot flies (example pictured) use their wing patterns defensively to mimic spiders? (15 October)
... that Hildegarde had a bat, a mouse and a shrew named in her honour? (16 October)
... that the naked-rumped tomb bat is among a number of species of bat that roost in different parts of the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt? (17 October)
... that the cause of the decline in hornleaf riverweed, a foundation species in swift-flowing rivers in North America, is unclear? (18 October)
... that botanist Betty Flint continued research in a voluntary capacity at Lincoln University and Landcare Research until she was 100 years old? (23 October)
... that the gut bacteria of Drosophila subobscura can influence its mating behavior? (23 October)
... that the warehouse beetle usually develops within about two months, but may enter an active diapause and take two years? (24 October)
... that the nectar-rich flowers of the African locust-bean are visited by bats, dormice, and pottos? (25 October)
... that populations of the russet rice rat have been shown to have a monogamous mating system? (30 October)
... that infestations of the common plaster beetle have caused hygiene problems in a hospital? (31 October)
... that a tree at least 700 years old, reputedly planted by Robert the Bruce, was destroyed by an arson attack in 2004?
... that structural biologist Erica Ollmann Saphire traveled to Africa to observe rodents in the field in order to study how viruses like Ebola are spread? (31 October)
... that the Coffin Cave mold beetle may not actually be found in Coffin Cave? (31 October)
... that the skeleton frog Boophis popi can be identified by its bright red irises? (31 October)
... that the common name of the Halloween darter refers to the orange and black coloration that individuals develop during the breeding season? (31 October)

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November 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

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November 2019—Issue 008

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
King brown snake by Casliber List of canids by PresN Tricolored bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Cwmhiraeth Alopias palatasi by Macrophyseter, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Deep biosphere by RockMagnetist (DCO visiting scholar), reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content
Eastern green mamba by Casliber A History of the Birds of Europe by Jimfbleak Anastrepha ludens by OstapKukhar Castorocauda by Dunkleosteus77 Aedes taeniorhynchus by XuLily Drosophila silvestris by Mmhua Dryopithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Christmas Island flying fox by Dunkleosteus77 Christmas imperial pigeon by Dunkleosteus77 Drosophila subobscura by Andrewoh29 Ceratitis capitata by Nikhilaggarwal123 Woolly rhinoceros by Thylacinus cynocephalus Ooedigera by Dunkleosteus77

News at a Glance

The Wiki Science Competition has begun on Wikimedia Commons. Several flora and fauna images have already been uploaded (the image at left is my current favorite).

Several copepod species
Red deer
Teucrium polium
Ants cross chasm via body bridge
Sarus crane duet

NessieVL created a Decemberween contest to improve taxa related to winter holidays. Loopy30 is out to an early lead, but with the bonus system for page views, there's still time for GA writers to hit a couple of home runs on some of the bigger articles like reindeer and mistletoe.
Though it didn't make it onto the main page in time for Halloween, Satanic nightjar made a splash nevertheless, cracking the list of non-lead DYK hooks with at least 15,000 views. The article was viewed nearly 17,000 times while on the main page (a typical day for the article is 10-15 views).

Class is in Session in the Tree of Life

In an interesting turn of events, this month's guest column is by my alter-ego, Elysia (Wiki Ed):

*Puts on Wiki Education hat* Hi everyone, I'm Elysia and I work for Wiki Education. You may know me as Enwebb. I got a request last month to let you know how Wiki Education is intersecting with the Tree of Life subprojects. As one of Wiki Education's major goals is to improve topics related to the sciences, leading to our Communicating Science initiative, we end up supporting quite a few in the biological sciences. Here are the TOL-related courses active this term:

What is the impact of student editors in Tree of Life?

A Wiki Education resource for students editing species articles

Altogether, these 16 courses have 347 student participants. As the end of the semester hasn't come yet, these numbers are still growing, but these students have:

created 50 new articles
edited 516 articles in total
made over 11.3k total edits
added over 470,000 words
added 5.9k references

Some of our best student work this semester (of any kind, not just biodiversity) has come from Agelaia's Behavioural Ecology course—you may remember this as the course that created WikiProject Diptera. The students have several Good Article nominations, including Dryomyza anilis, Anastrepha ludens, Aedes taeniorhynchus, Drosophila silvestris, Drosophila subobscura, and Ceratitis capitata.

And while long-term participation from students is low, there's always the chance that we'll discover a Wikipedian. I had never edited before my Wikipedia assignment in 2017 and I'm still here nearly 20,000 edits later! After I poked around in the beginning of the semester, I had the realization that not many people write Wikipedia, and very few of those have a special interest in bats. If I didn't stick around to write the content, there was no guarantee that it would ever get done.

Why are species articles suitable for students?

Writing about taxonomic groups is a great fit for students, as it keeps them away from areas where new editors traditionally struggle. The notability policy is generous towards taxa, and there is little danger of a student's work getting removed for lack of notability; this is to be expected when students write biographies. Students may struggle with encyclopedic tone for biographies and stray towards promotional writing, but this is much less common when writing about a shrew or algae!

Additionally, we're never going to run out of species to write about. Students have a bounty of stubs and redlinks to pick from. Creating a new article or expanding an existing one also takes a fairly predictable structure, with plenty of articles that students can model after.

Don't students just create messes for volunteers to clean up?

Our sincere hope is that, no, they don't, and we take several steps to try to minimize the burden on volunteer labor. With automatic plagiarism detection, alerts when students edit a Good or Featured Article, and notifications when students edit an article subject to discretionary sanctions, we try to stay ahead of problems as much as possible. We also review all student work at the end of each term. Ian, Shalor, and I are always happy to receive pings alerting us to student issues that need to be addressed.

November DYKs

Brants's whistling rat

Female black-capped tanager

... that Brants's whistling rat (illustration shown) seldom ventures more than 30 cm (12 in) from one of the many entrances to its burrow? (4 November)
... that the assassin bug Rhynocoris longifrons will feed on moth larvae in preference to sap-sucking pests? (5 November)
... that poison devil's-pepper has been used both as rat poison and as a traditional medicine for humans? (6 November)
... that the lamenting grasshopper seems to be expanding its range northwards in Italy, possibly as a result of climate change? (10 November)
... that each Xyloterinus politus larva has its own individual cradle? (12 November)
... that the assassin bug Rhynocoris marginatus injects venomous saliva into its prey to paralyse it? (13 November)
... that botanist George R. Proctor collected more than 55,000 specimens, had 31 species named after him, and was convicted of a conspiracy to murder his wife? (14 November)
... that the bark of Guibourtia tessmannii is much esteemed in traditional medicine and is often removed from living trees? (15 November)
... that the female black-capped tanager (pictured) moulds her nest by vibrating in it? (18 November)
... that the Satanic nightjar can make a growling noise when disturbed? (21 November)
... that infestations of Leptoconops torrens biting flies have halted construction and farming projects in California? (22 November)
... that the male of the hoverfly species Syritta pipiens darts sharply in flight to facilitate mating? (23 November)
... that the tree Drypetes gerrardii was named after William Gerrard, who collected plants in southern Africa in the 1860s? (25 November)
... that in Nova Scotia, the tricolored bat roosts exclusively in the dangling fronds of bony beard lichen? (26 November)
... that the southern black korhaan, native to South Africa, is becoming rarer due to loss of its natural habitat to agriculture? (27 November)
... that the green spruce aphid often continues breeding throughout the winter, but the nymphs become dormant in the summer? (28 November)
... that the ambrosia beetle Euplatypus parallelus cultivates fungi in the galleries it creates for its larvae (29 November)
... that the parasitic wasp Lathrolestes luteolator has adopted the amber-marked birch leaf miner as a new host? (30 November)

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December 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

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WP:TOLN

December 2019—Issue 009

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Apororhynchus by Mattximus Eastern green mamba by Casliber Christmas Island flying fox by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Enwebb Devils Hole pupfish by Enwebb, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Castorocauda by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by SUM1 Ocelot by Sainsf, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Snakefly by Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by Sainsf

Newly nominated content
Cactus wren by CaptainEek Drosophila mettleri by Jillian Shah Boring Billion by Dunkleosteus77 Calliphora vomitoria by Y.shiuan Pubal by Samotny Wędrowiec Poinsettia by Enwebb Steller's sea ape by Dunkleosteus77 Christmas darter by Enwebb and Cwmhiraeth Egyptian fruit bat by Enwebb and Asanc445 Paranthropus by Dunkleosteus77 Segnosaurus by FunkMonk Argentinosaurus Slate Weasel

News at a Glance

On December 10th, the IUCN updated 8,225 species assessments, including 6,722 that were added to the list for the first time. All eucalypt species have officially been evaluated by the IUCN with this update. Several birds were newly declared extinct (poʻouli, cryptic treehunter, Alagoas foliage-gleaner) and one declared extinct in the wild (Spix's macaw). The official press release is here.
Sign-ups are open for the 2020 WikiCup, a months-long competition where editors score points by improving articles. Sign-ups are open through 31 January.
The Winter Holidays Contest is wrapping up. Christmas Island flying fox was promoted to GA, and there are several pending GANs (Christmas darter, poinsettia, and Christmas imperial pigeon). Images were added to 36 articles that were previously lacking them, and 125 articles were converted from taxoboxes to speciesboxes.
The Tree of Life was featured in The Signpost as a WikiProject report, eight years after it was last featured. This marked the return of the WikiProject report after a year hiatus.

Editor Spotlight: Plantdrew

We're joined this month by long-time editor Plantdrew, who's currently engaged in streamlining the taxonomic structure of Wikipedia articles via the automated taxobox system.

How did you become a Wikipedian? What are your particular interests (besides the obvious of "plants")?

My first job out of school in was working for ITIS; entering new species, mostly fish. At that time, ITIS was the single largest taxonomic database, and I was enthusiastic about the prospects for the eventual completion of a comprehensive global taxonomic resource. I moved on to other things, and fews years later I became aware of Wikipedia and eventually Wikispecies. At that time (~2007), It seemed to me that Wikispecies might be the best prospect for a comprehensive global taxonomic resource. ITIS had a team of 5 data developers when I worked there, while Wikispecies had a substantially larger editor base and was growing faster than ITIS (although still smaller than ITIS). I did a little bit of editing at Wikispecies at that point, but stopped after being frustrated that a project that easily could have been a structured database had little consensus for any particular standards or structures.

As Wikipedia grew, I found myself using it more and more as a reference. Eventually I started making occasional editing as an IP to fix errors I noticed. I finally registered an account when I needed to create an article; there was an article purportedly about an insect genus, but all the information pertained to a particular species, so I created an article for the species and moved information there. I started finding more cases where Wikipedia was conflating different topics; plant product derived from multiple species with a taxobox for one species, the common name for a fairly well known fruit needing disambiguation against an obscure French town. At that point I was hooked and started making more substantial contributions. It also was apparent that while the English Wikipedia might not outpace Wikispecies in article count, it had better representation of organisms that more people were interested in, and was attracting far more readers. For the first few years I was active, I focused on adding redirects for (unambigous)) vernacular names, and resolving ambiguous vernacular names.

Aside from plants, I'm interested in slime molds, fungi, and various sessile and slow-moving animals (I like things that can be observed without them running away). I've had some short term work experience with fishes (ITIS), mammals, birds and insects.

What projects are keeping you busy around the 'pedia at present?

Well, I'm not much of a content creator. I mostly do gnomish edits.

Every day, I try to look through the all the new articles for the ToL subprojects that have new article reports set up (which reminds me, we should really get a ToL-wide new article report going). Many new articles are created by experienced ToL editors whose names I recognize, and I don't do much to check their work. For unfamiliar editors, I tag articles for the appropriate WikiProject, and check for formatting, grammar, etc. A couple years ago, I was just about the only person checking new ToL articles, but recently other ToL editors have stepped up.

Since early 2017, my main project has been converting manual taxoboxes to automatic taxoboxes. That has me going through articles systematically, and since I'm editing them anyway there are a bunch of other changes I make as necessary. Checking that classification is up-to-date, standardizing formatting, adding inline citations, refining categories, adding images if any are available on Commons, adding additional IDs to taxonbars in cases of monotypy, creating/categorizing redirects. I've slowly been working through plant articles, with occasional forays into other groups of organisms. Some of these tasks weren't part of my work flow when I first started, and there are some tasks that I could be doing, but haven't bothered with (short descriptions, certain types of categories). I expect it'll take about another year for me to finish up with plant automatic taxoboxes, and then I'm sure I'll have to find something else to do.

What's your favorite plant?

I couldn't pick just one. Pseudotsuga is the dominant tree where I grew up, and it always makes me happy to be back in a Douglas fir forest. Asimina triloba is my favorite wild edible plant that grows where I live now. I studied Berberis thunbergii as an invasive species in grad school, and have a love/hate relationship with it now (mostly hate, but it remains interesting). Belgian endive is my favorite vegetable without a Wikipedia article. I'm fond of Lamiaceae in general, and while many species are used as herbs, I'm particularly interested in mints with other uses; Salvia hispanica as a pseudo-cereal, Plectranthus rotundifolius as a root crop, and Salvia divinorum as psychoactive plant with mysterious origins (is it a cultigen?).

What's your background like? How did you come to have a special interest in biology?

I grew up in a rural area and spent a lot of time playing in the woods and working in the garden, so I interacted a lot with plants as a child. My mother's parents were (insect) taxonomists (and a great-grandparent had a keen interest in natural history). My mother was pretty comfortable with scientific names, and after my parents settled in a part of the country with many plants they hadn't been familiar with, she learned the new plants by scientific names. I knew a bunch of plants by scientific names from an early age long before I realized that other people had different names for them. When I was a little older I became interested in edible wild plants. I remained interested in plants in general, and when I was in college and discovered the discipline of ethnobotany, which really tied together the general botany side of my interests with the edible plant side.

What's something that would surprised TOL editors about your life off-wiki?

Birders have life lists of species they've seen. I have a life list of plant species I've eaten. I enjoy shopping at international grocery stores, looking for new plants to try (or different preparations of unusual plants I've already tried). I've made two trips to a city 5 hours away just to shop at a store that I'm pretty sure is the largest international grocery store in the United States. My best Christmas gift this year was a box with little sample packs of 14 different species of dried fruits and herbs from Australia. I'd prefer to try the fruits fresh, but without making a trip to Australia, this is my best opportunity to try some of the major bushfoods.

Anything else you'd like us to know?

Editing Wikipedia has been a rewarding hobby for me, and although I haven't done a lot of direct collaboration with other editors, the ToL community seems pretty friendly and relatively conflict free. ToL is a good bunch of people.

December DYKs

Member of genus Chrysomya

Mekong Bobtail

... that the tapping sound of the deathwatch beetle has long been considered an omen of an impending death? (1 December)
... that Chinese virologist George F. Gao led a test laboratory in Sierra Leone during the peak of the 2014 Ebola outbreak? (1 December)
... that the chirps of the snowy tree cricket can be used to estimate the temperature? (2 December)
... that research on pain in fish by Victoria Braithwaite resulted in new rules in the UK, Europe, and Canada to make fisheries more humane? (2 December)
... that plant physiologist Hu Dujing cultivated Eucommia ulmoides to produce a substitute for rubber? (3 December)
... that Rhagoletis juglandis is a species of fly that infests walnuts? (3 December)
... that the granulate ambrosia beetle is native to Asia but has spread as an invasive species to Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania? (5 December)
... that the Peleng tarsier, a small carnivorous primate, can rotate its head nearly 180 degrees in either direction? (7 December)
... that Chrysomya putoria (genus member pictured) and other flies that feed on decomposing flesh are used as important tools in forensic entomology to establish the post-mortem interval? (9 December)
... that a moth is being used in biological pest control of the sugarcane planthopper? (12 December)
... that because photomicrographs of Longan witches broom-associated virus were not published, the virus was not initially accepted as the cause of the eponymous disease? (13 December)
... that infestations of the cotton jassid can be reduced by growing a cotton cultivar with hairy leaves? (14 December)
... that Coelopa pilipes fly populations can live at temperatures of 40 °C (104 °F) within piles of kelp, even in areas covered with snow and ice? (18 December)
... that Hirtodrosophila mycetophaga mate on bracket fungi, selectively choosing those with a lighter surface to enhance the visibility of their courtship displays? (19 December)
... that Appasus japonicus (pictured), a species of giant water bug, provides an example of insect paternal care? (20 December)
... that the banana weevil is considered the most serious insect pest of bananas? (21 December)
... that the Christmas Island flying fox matures more slowly than nearly all other bats? (26 December)
... that in the absence of males in North America, the female woolly alder sawfly reproduces through parthenogenesis? (26 December)
... that the Christmas darter is considered a priority species by the state of South Carolina, but of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature? (28 December)
... that after laying its eggs on a leaf, the female mango leaf-cutting weevil severs the leaf near its base and lets it fall to the ground? (30 December)
... that Mekong Bobtails (example pictured) were among 200 royal cats given to Nicholas II of Russia by King Chulalongkorn of Siam in the 19th century? (31 December)

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January 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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January 2020—Issue 010

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Megarachne by Ichthyovenator Christmas imperial pigeon by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by FunkMonk Paranthropus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by IJReid Orcinus meyeri by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Enwebb Christmas darter by Enwebb and Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by J Milburn Saxifragales by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by starsandwhales Segnosaurus by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Dryopithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Drosophila subobscura by Andrewoh29, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Egyptian fruit bat by Enwebb, reviewed by FunkMonk Scale insect by Chiswick Chap and Cwhmiraeth, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77

Newly nominated content
Wolf by LittleJerry Segnosaurus by FunkMonk The Goldfinch (painting) by Jimfbleak Dryomyza anilis by AnuBalasubramanian Pigs in culture by Chiswick Chap Coronariae by Michael Goodyear Neanderthal by Dunkleosteus77 Gharial by BhagyaMani Honeynut squash by Ɱ James John Joicey by RLO1729 Gigantorhynchus by Mattximus Ardipithecus ramidus by Dunkleosteus77

News at a Glance

In a major milestone for the automated taxobox system, more taxa articles now use automatic taxoboxes than manual ones. Particularly robust groups for automatic taxoboxes are turtles, primates, birds, rodents, amphibians and reptiles, sharks, and bivalves, with each project adopting automatic taxoboxes at rates greater than 95%. Only the fungi, arthropods, and microbiology projects had automatic taxobox adoption rates less than 25%. Read more in the 1 January update.
Thanks to user Trappist the monk, all citations to the IUCN using Template:Cite web or Template:Cite journal have now been swapped to Template:Cite iucn. This will prevent a recurrence of massive link failure should the IUCN change its URL format again. That does not address the 14.5k articles that cite the IUCN without the use of templates. For more background discussion, see here and here.

Vital Articles

The vital articles project on English Wikipedia began in 2004 when an editor transferred a list from Meta-Wiki: List of articles every Wikipedia should have. The first incarnation of the list became what is now level 3. As of 2019, there are 5 levels of vital articles:

Level 1: the 10 most vital articles (2009)
Level 2: the 100 most vital articles (2009)
Level 3: the 1,000 most vital articles (2004)
Level 4: the 10,000 most vital articles (2006)
Level 5: the 50,000 most vital articles (2017)

Each level is inclusive of all previous levels, meaning that the 1,000 Level 3 articles include those listed on Levels 2 and 1. Below is an overview of the distribution of vital articles, and the quality of the articles. While the ultimate goal of the vital articles project is to have Featured-class articles, I also considered Good Articles to be "complete" for the purposes of this list.

Animals (1,148 designated out of projected 2,400)

Cnidarians (5/8): 62.5% complete

Echinoderms (3/6): 50% complete

Insects (30/70): 42.9% complete

Invertebrates + others (10/27): 37% complete

Other arthropods (3/10): 30% complete

Reptiles (25/85): 29.4% complete

Amphibians (6/22): 27.3% complete

Porifera (1/4): 25% complete

Mammals (68/319): 21.3% complete

Mollusks (2/19): 21.1% complete

Arachnids (3/17): 17.6% complete

Birds (33/187): 17.6% complete

Animal breeds and hybrids (19/112): 17% complete

Crustaceans (3/25): 12% complete

Fishes (11/134): 8.2% complete

Agnatha (0/4): 0% complete

Plants, fungi, and other organisms (510 designated out of projected 1,200)

Fungi (4/33): 12.1% complete

Other organisms—Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya (5/62): 8.1% complete

Vegetables (6/96): 6.7% complete

Monocots (2/35): 5.7% complete

Edible fruits (5/95): 5.3% complete

Non-flowering plants (1/30): 3.3% complete

Edible seeds, grains, nuts (1/69): 1.4% complete

Non-monocots (1/88): 1.1% complete

Carnivorous plants (0/2): 0% complete

Many articles have yet to be designated for Tree of Life taxonomic groups, with 1,942 outstanding articles to be added. Anyone can add vital articles to the list! Restructuring may be necessary, as the only viruses included as of yet are under the category "Health". The majority of vital articles needing improvement are level 5, but here are some outstanding articles from the other levels:

Level 2

· Life · Human · Plant

Level 3

· Abiogenesis · Death · Cell · Human evolution · Organism · Zoology · Cattle · Dog · Reptile · Flower · Nut · Seed · Algae · Eukaryote · Biodiversity · Extinction · Photosynthesis

Level 4

· Sexual dimorphism · Feather · Fur · Hair · Gill · Plant anatomy · Plant morphology · Berry · Leaf · Root · Stoma · Shrub · Plant stem · Bark · Trunk · Epidermis · Ground tissue · Meristem · Vascular tissue · Vascular cambium · Hypha · Mycelium

January DYKs

Fossil teeth of Alopias palatasi

LuEsther T. Mertz Library

The Central Park mandarin duck

Christmas Island red crab

Salvador Dalí with his pet ocelot Babou

Passionvine bug

Tansy beetle

Winter bell

Doubleband surgeonfish

... that the extinct giant thresher shark Alopias palatasi is the only one of its kind to possess serrated teeth (pictured)? (1 January)
... that Dogor, an 18,000-year-old canine puppy, may represent a common ancestor of the dog and the wolf? (2 January)
... that the Caton Oak in Lancashire, England, was reputed to be a site of worship by druids? (4 January)
... that the LuEsther T. Mertz Library (pictured), one of the world's largest botanical libraries, had 6.5 million plant specimens and 75 percent of the world's systematic botany literature in 2002? (4 January)
... that Australian biologist Lee Berger identified Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis as being responsible for the decline and extinction of hundreds of amphibian species? (5 January)
... that the beetle Zaitzevia thermae has a total habitat of less than 35 square metres (380 sq ft) around one hot spring in Montana? (6 January)
... that the Anatolian frog is exported from Turkey to France, Italy and Switzerland for food, and is considered by the IUCN to be a near-threatened species? (6 January)
... that the stems and leaves of the endangered Holloway's crystalwort look as if they are covered in sugar crystals? (8 January)
... that a severe infestation of the palm weevil borer can kill its host palm? (9 January)
... that a mandarin duck (pictured) that appeared in New York City's Central Park became an international celebrity, with followers whom the Associated Press called "quackarazzi"? (10 January)
... that the Lac La Croix Indian Pony was recreated from a breeding population of four mares by crossing them with a Spanish Mustang? (11 January)
... that the female Savannah darter lays clutches of sticky eggs that she buries in gravel or sand? (12 January)
... that the Malayan banded pitta is threatened by the destruction of its forest habitat and by being targeted for the illegal trade in birds? (12 January)
... that in 2007, a rescued European bison calf dubbed Pubal grew so attached to humans in southeastern Poland that he could not be successfully reintegrated back into the wild? (13 January)
... that evolutionary biologist Rebecca Kilner has found that mites can give burying beetles a competitive advantage? (13 January)
... that jellyfish blooms can clog coastal power plants, causing losses of tens of thousands of US dollars per day? (14 January)
... that redbanded thrips are a significant pest of mango and cacao in the West Indies? (15 January)
... that the red crabs (example pictured) dominating the wildlife of Christmas Island have been threatened by the arrival of yellow crazy ants? (15 January)
... that Anisocentropus krampus was described in the same paper as other insects with monstrous names like Ganonema dracula and Anisocentropus golem? (16 January)
... that in France, the beetle Aepus marinus is restricted to a narrow strip of the beach near the high-water mark? (17 January)
... that the palm scale was first found on an endemic species of palm on the island of Réunion, but now infests plants in at least 78 families around the world? (17 January)
... that artist Salvador Dalí claimed that his pet ocelot (both pictured) was an ordinary domestic cat that he had "painted over in an op art design"? (18 January)
... that a whale found in western Vermont has presented further evidence of glaciation in New England? (19 January)
... that hosts of the passionvine bug (example pictured) include coffee, citrus, mung bean, squash, and mango? (21 January)
... that the lizard goby holds on to rocks in fast-flowing water by means of a "sucker" formed from two fins? (21 January)
... that the egg sacs of the newly discovered Phinda button spider are made of bright purple silk that fades to grey when it dries? (22 January)
... that the nationally rare tansy beetle (example pictured) survives at Acaster South Ings, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near York, England? (23 January)
... that chitons, such as Acanthochitona crinita, are molluscs with a shell composed of eight separate articulating valves? (25 January)
... that the main pollinators of the winter bell (pictured) are the singing honeyeater and the red wattlebird? (26 January)
... that with a stretched length of up to 20 cm (8 in), Pontobdella muricata is one of the largest marine leeches? (28 January)
... that not only does Couma utilis have edible fruit, its latex is used as a base for chewing gum, caulking boats, and whitewashing houses? (29 January)
... that the doubleband surgeonfish (example pictured) can turn a dark brown shade flushed with red or violet when stressed? (30 January)

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February 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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February 2020—Issue 011

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Segnosaurus by FunkMonk The Goldfinch (painting) by Jimfbleak Gharial by BhagyaMani, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Steller's sea ape by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Poinsettia by Enwebb, reviewed by Starsandwhales Honeynut squash by Ɱ, reviewed by Ealdgyth

Newly nominated content
Danuvius guggenmosi by Dunkleosteus77 Denisovan by Dunkleosteus77 Homo luzonensis by Dunkleosteus77 Homo naledi by Dunkleosteus77 Horseshoe bat by Enwebb Cimicidae by Cwmhiraeth and Chiswick Chap

News at a Glance

The Great Britain and Ireland Destubathon began on 1 March and runs for the entire month. Expansion of any stubs related to Great Britain and Ireland is welcome, inclusive of taxa. There are also monetary prizes for winners of specific categories in the form of Amazon gift cards. PetScan could be useful here to find the intersection of Stub-class articles and other categories: Biota of Ireland; Biota of Great Britain; Biota of the Isle of Man
The WP:WikiCup just completed its first round. Dunkleosteus77 had the most points of any Tree of Life editor, with 5 GAs and 6 GARs. Other Tree of Life editors moving on to round two include Enwebb, Sainsf, starsandwhales, Guettarda, and Casliber.
Some winners of the 2019 Wiki Science Competition have been announced. For the finalists and winners, see here.

Daphnia giving birth (Poland)
Immunofluorescence staining of a mouse intestine, "Microscopy" (Australia)
Bat scientist Lauri Lutsar determining the age of a bat, "People In Science" (Estonia)
Close-up view of a bioluminescent beetle Elateroidea, "Wildlife and Nature" (France)
Coral fluorescence, "General Category" (Russia)
Paleoanthropologist at work, "People in Science" (Italy)
Ammonite fossil from Morocco, "General Category" (Spain)
Yellow orange-tip male (Ixias pyrene), "Wildlife and Nature" (India)

The spread of coronavirus across Wikipedia

With the outbreak of a novel coronavirus dominating news coverage, Wikipedia content related to the virus has seen much higher interest. Tree of Life content of particular interest to readers has included viruses, bats, pangolins, and masked palm civets. Viruses saw the most dramatic growth in readership: Coronavirus, which was the 105th most popular virus article in December 2019 with about 400 views per day, averaged over a quarter million views each day of January 2020. Total monthly viewership of the top-10 virus articles ballooned from about 1.5 million to nearly 20 million.

Top 10 WikiProject Virus articles in December 2019 vs. January 2020
	December 2019	January 2020	Rank change
1	Gastroenteritis	Coronavirus	+104
2	HIV/AIDS	2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak	NA
3	Norovirus	2019 novel coronavirus	NA
4	Smallpox	Severe acute respiratory syndrome	+47
5	Shingles	Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)	NA
6	Measles	Spanish flu	+3
7	HIV	Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus	+124
8	Influenza	List of epidemics	+54
9	Spanish flu	Timeline of the 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak	NA
10	Dengue fever	Coronaviridae	+490
Total views	1,466,143‬	19,845,246

Viewership of the articles Bat, Bat-borne virus, Horseshoe bat, and Bat as food from 15 Jan. 2020 to 10 Feb. 2020

From October 2019 – December 2019, the top ten most popular bat articles fluctuated among 16 different articles, with the December viewership of those 10 articles at 209,280. For January 2020, three articles broke into the top-10 that were not among the 16 articles of the prior three months: Bat as food, Horseshoe bat, and Bat-borne virus. Viewership of the top-10 bat articles spiked nearly 300% to 617,067 in January.

While bats have been implicated as a possible natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, an intermediate host may be the bridge between bats and humans. Pangolins have been hypothesized as the intermediate host for the virus, causing a large spike in typical page views of 2-3k each day up to more than 60k in a day. Masked palm civets, the intermediate host of SARS, saw a modest yet noticeable spike in page views as well, from 100 to 300 views per day to as many as 5k views per day.

With an increase in viewers came an increase in editors. In an interview, longtime virus editor Awkwafaba identified the influx of editors as the biggest challenge in editing content related to the coronavirus. They noted that these newcomers include "novices who make honest mistakes and get tossed about a bit in the mad activity" as well as "experienced editors who know nothing about viruses and are good researchers, yet aren't familiar with the policies of WP:ToL or WP:Viruses." Disruption also increased, with extended confirmed protection (also known as the 30/500 rule, which prevents editors with fewer than 30 days tenure and 500 edits from making edits and is typically used on a very small subset of Wikipedia articles) temporarily applied to Coronavirus and still active on Template:2019–20 coronavirus outbreak data. New editors apparently seeking to correct misinformation continuously edited the article Bat as food to remove content related to China: Videos of Chinese people eating bat soup were misrepresented to be current or filmed in China, when at least one such video was several years old and filmed in Palau. However, reliable sources confirm that bats are eaten in China, especially Southern China, so these well-meaning edits were mostly removed.

Another level of complexity was added by the fluctuating terminology of the virus. Over a dozen moves and merges were requested within WikiProject Viruses. To give you an idea of the musical chairs happening with article titles, here are the move histories of two articles:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

Began as Wuhan coronavirus on 9 January
Moved to 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 16 January
Moved to Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 19 January
Moved to 2019 novel coronavirus on 9 February
Moved to Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 on 18 February (current name)

2019–20 coronavirus outbreak

Began as 2019-2020 China pneumonia outbreak on 5 January
Moved to 2019–20 China pneumonia outbreak on 5 January
Moved to 2019-20 outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan, China on 15 January
Moved to 2019-20 outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 15 January
Moved to 2019–20 outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 15 January
Moved to 2019–20 outbreak of novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV on 23 January
Moved to 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak on 23 January
Moved to 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak on 18 February (current name)

Awkwafaba noted that "the main authorities, WHO and ICTV, don't really have a process for speedily naming a virus or disease." Additionally, they have different criteria for naming. They said, "I remember in a move discussion from the article then called Wuhan coronavirus that a virus name cannot have a geographical location in it, but this is a WHO disease naming guideline, and not an ICTV virus naming rule. ICTV may have renamed Four Corners virus to Sin Nombre orthohantavirus but there are still plenty of official virus species names that don't abide by WHO guidelines."

February DYKs

Thistle broomrape

Painting of the Shelton Oak

Female A. diabolicum flowers with curled stigmas

... that juvenile ornate surgeonfish are quite different in colouring from the adult fish? (1 February)
... that Quarry Moor is one of the few locations in England where the rare parasitic plant thistle broomrape (example pictured) grows? (2 February)
... that the hollow Shelton Oak (pictured) near Shrewsbury was so big that a party of eight could dance a quadrille inside it? (3 February)
... that growth in the brown seaweed Zanardinia typus occurs at the base of the hairs that grow around the edge of the frond? (4 February)
... that entomologist Karim Vahed led the team that found a cricket species in which the testes accounted for 14 percent of the insect's body mass? (4 February)
... that the ant Acropyga exsanguis shares its nest with several species of mealybug, including Geococcus coffeae? (4 February)
... that no fungi or algae are listed as endangered or threatened by the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board? (5 February)
... that the blue pitta is a shy, secretive bird, but will respond to a recording of its call? (5 February)
... that Acer diabolicum, the devil maple, gets its scientific and common names from the curly stigmas of its flowers (pictured)? (6 February)
... that the alga Acetabularia acetabulum (pictured) resembles a green parasol? (7 February)
... that Bishop Monkton Ings in North Yorkshire, England, provides a habitat to the semi-parasitic marsh lousewort? (9 February)
... that although the bird of paradise fly was first described from an Angophora tree, it is quite likely that this is not the insect's host plant? (11 February)
... that Hack Fall Wood in North Yorkshire, England, hosts the rare lemon slug (example pictured)? (13 February)
... that the hairy sea cucumber has long tube feet on its dorsal surface, giving it a furry appearance? (14 February)
... that Diego (pictured) "had so much sex he saved his species"? (15 February)
... that common lousewort owes its name to the belief that livestock that ate it would become lousy? (16 February)
... that groups of social feather dusters sway in unison in the water current and retract into their tubes at the slightest disturbance (16 February)
... that the copepod Mesocyclops longisetus can be used in the biological control of mosquitoes? (17 February)
... that the specific name of Pterophorus pentadactyla, commonly known as the white plume moth, comes from the Greek for 'five fingers'? (22 February)
... that the laciniate conch (shell pictured) is able to flip itself off the seabed using its muscular foot? (25 February)

A. acetabulum caps
Lemon slug
Diego in 2009
Five views of a laciniate conch shell

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March 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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March 2020—Issue 012

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Argentinosaurus by Slate Weasel and Jens Lallensack Wolf by LittleJerry Horseshoe bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Cimicidae by Cwmhiraeth and Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Enwebb Coronariae by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by Dank Ardipithecus ramidus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by starsandwhales Ooedigera by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Bathyphysa conifera by Awkwafaba, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Calliphora vomitoria by Y.shiuan, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations by Britishfinance Bathyphysa conifera by Awkwafaba Moniliformidae by Mattximus Disease X by Britishfinance Mandarin Patinkin by Rhododendrites

News at a glance

A year of the Tree of Life Newsletter: Thank you to all the subscribers who have been with us from the beginning or have joined along the way, and to those who have contributed their time to producing this newsletter. I've really valued your ideas, copyediting, and willingness to be interviewed. Onwards and upwards!
April marks the start of the GAN Backlog Drive, which continues through the end of May. The goal of this backlog elimination drive is to cut the number of outstanding GANs, in particular those which have been in the queue 90 days or more. All hands welcome, new and old.
The finalists of the US Wiki Science Competition have been announced. Illustrating Wikipedia articles can be challenging, so these new images represent a chance to find suitable media for our articles. For all images uploaded in the Wiki Science Competition, see here and click "all images" in the upper right corner.

Fly's mouth and tongue (Microscopy)
Killer whales hunting a crabeater seal (Wildlife)
Fossilized tooth of a Squalicorax shark (Microscopy)
Flourescent coral (Non-photographic media)

A new WikiProject responding to the pandemic

The newest Tree of Life WikiProject is about a taxon that is dominating the headlines, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and its many effects. We interviewed Another Believer, the founder of WikiProject COVID-19.

This interview has been edited for length. Find the full interview here.

Number of participants of WikiProject Covid-19

Please describe how you went about creating WikiProject COVID-19. What made you think a project was needed?
I've been following the outbreak and editing related Wikipedia articles since January. I'm not particularly interested in infectious diseases or viruses, but I've been to China a few times and wanted to monitor the outbreak's impact on society as well as the government's response. For a while, I was casually tracking updates to the first couple pages about the outbreak. Then a pattern began to emerge as February saw the creation of separate articles about outbreaks in Iran, Italy, and South Korea. New Wikipedia articles continued being created in early March, and the outbreak was recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11. Knowing there would many more articles, lists, templates, illustrations, and other pages on Wikipedia, I created WikiProject COVID-19 on March 15. My goal was simply to create a temporary or permanent space for editors to collaborate, communicate, and focus specifically on content related to this ongoing pandemic. I'm a member of many WikiProjects and have created several before, but this one definitely felt more necessary and urgent. Most WikiProjects unite editors with similar interests, which is fine and serves a purpose, but I felt this project could have a much bigger real life impact. I don't think I was alone in my thinking; the project had 80 members by March 20 and 100 members by March 26.
Who or what was invaluable to getting off the ground?
If I'm being honest, getting this project off the ground required little work on my part. All I did was create the space and post invitations to existing talk pages related to the outbreak. Editors joined the project very quickly; 30 members joined on the same day I started the project, and there were more than 50 participants one day later. I've been a daily Wikipedia editor for more than 12 years, and I've never seen so much interest in a project or content added to Wikipedia about a specific topic in such a short period of time. WikiProject members worked expeditiously to build a framework and hang a barnstar, tagging related pages, assessing content, and starting talk page discussions about the project's goals and scope. I'm thankful to the many editors who pitched in to get the project established, and I look forward to seeing how editors collaborate in this space as we move forward.
What are the short-term goals of the project?
No specific goals have been posted to the project page yet, but I'd like to think members share a collective desire to ensure Wikipedia has accurate and reliable information about the disease and pandemic. Disinformation and misinformation seem rampant these days, so we're working to give readers around the globe access to accurate, objective, and possibly even life-saving information. Unlike some WikiProjects which may take a more historical approach to documenting certain topics, WikiProject COVID-19 members have the ability to mitigate the disease's spread in real time by arming communities with facts about outbreaks in their region as well as information about prevention, testing, vaccine research, societal impact, etc.

Viewership of WikiProject Medicine, WikiProject Viruses, and WikiProject COVID-19 in the month of March 2020
What are the long-term goals? English Wikipedia has many of 'lumpers' who think there are too many projects already. The project has also inspired the creation of two portals, which I imagine caused some raised eyebrows in this trend of portal deletionism. What will come of the WP after the current outbreak subsides?
After creating WikiProject COVID-19, a couple editors said I should have created a task force instead of a standalone WikiProject. I wasn't bothered. The number of 'thank you' notifications I received for creating the page vastly outweighed these critical comments. I knew the page I created was much needed, and I would be fine if editors decide to call the page by another name. I understand some editors think there are too many WikiProjects. No one's required to join WikiProject COVID-19, but the 100+ of us who have already joined invite you to help with our efforts, if you're interested. As for the project's future, I would be fine if editors decided to convert the WikiProject into a task force, or even put the project into retirement if the time comes. Given the level of interest and impact the pandemic has already had on a global scale, I have a feeling the WikiProject will be active for a long time.
Another criticism of the project is its narrow focus. It is focused on only one strain of virus, and the disease it causes. Even WikiProject AIDS is about two species of virus. Is the scope of the project too small? What would an expanded scope look like? Why would including another virus strain in the same species, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus which causes SARS, not be wanted? or is it wanted?
Narrow focus? I disagree. The project may focus on a single virus and disease, but the pandemic has resulted in the creation of hundreds of Wikipedia articles documenting outbreaks in most countries and territories. There are pages covering the pandemic's impact on aviation, cinema, education, politics, religion, sports, and television, not to mention others related to the resulting economic turmoil. Additionally, there are hundreds of templates, charts, and other graphics. Who knows how many thousands of images and other media will be uploaded at Wikimedia Commons by the time this pandemic subsides? There's also COVID-19 WikiProject COVID-19 at Wikidata, and I wouldn't be surprised if similar spaces are created for other Wikimedia projects soon. Even if the focus is narrow, there's plenty of content for Wikimedians to improve and protect.
In your opinion, what should be the guidelines for creating a new project, as opposed to creating a task force or working under an existing WikiProject?
I don't feel strongly about new project creation guidelines, or the differences between WikiProjects and task forces. Project members should decide what structure works for them and call themselves whatever name they prefer. I understand project construction requires maintenance and can come at an administrative cost, but we should be careful about discouraging editors from proposing new projects.

Ideally, editors would only create a new WikiProject if at least a few others were committed to joining. I created WikiProject COVID-19 without conferring with others because I assumed the interest would be there. I encourage people to be bold and create project pages, but maybe ask a few other editors for feedback first. I'll let other editors worry about the guidelines.
What tools (templates, bots, etc.) are essential, or even just really helpful, for organizing and maintaining a successful project? What is something every WP should do, that maybe isn't doing now?
I appreciate the standard WikiProject assessment framework. AlexNewArtBot and Article alerts have also been very helpful.
What have you learned about Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or COVID-19 during this process that surprised you?
I don't have any sort of medical background, and I'm more interested in the pandemic's impact than details about the disease or virus. Most surprising to me has been the lack of preparedness for combating outbreaks by governments around the world, including here in the United States. I don't know how COVID-19's spread compares to other infectious diseases, but as I've watched the outbreak develop I've continually wondered why governments did not start preparing earlier. What was happening in China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea should have prompted action sooner.
What important things about 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic do you think folks should know and maybe have missed in the deluge of information coming at people?
1. Know the most common symptoms: cough, fever, and difficulty breathing.

2. Learn what behavioral adjustments you should make to protect yourself and reduce transmission, and remember to wash your hands.

3. Get your information from reputable sources. I'd like to think Wikipedia editors are pretty good at this last bit of advice.

Thank you to Another Believer for your time, both in this interview and in this project. Interested readers can join WikiProject COVID-19. And please stay safe and healthy out there. --Awkwafaba

March DYKs

... that Calamagrostis intermedia is the dominant plant of the grassy páramo in Ecuador's El Cajas National Park? (March 1)
... that the blood-sucking bug Primicimex cavernis survives in a cave in Texas while the bats on which it feeds overwinter elsewhere? (March 2)
... that the worm Phyllodoce lineata is a predator and scavenger, feeding mostly on other polychaetes? (March 4)
... that the crested oyster has been eaten by humans for at least 6,000 years? (March 5)
... that larvae of the tube worm Hydroides ezoensis prefer to settle on a substrate already inhabited by other worms of their own species? (March 14)
... that the sea slug Berthella ocellata hides during the day and feeds on sponges such as Corticium candelabrum at night? (March 18)
... that the sea cucumber Actinopyga agassizii has five teeth surrounding its anus? (March 19)
... that unlike most soft scale insects, the adult female pyriform scale is able to move around? (March 20)
... that in Florida, winged termites are sometimes found stuck to wet foliage, buildings, or vehicles after rain? (March 23)
... that despite being known as the Kerry lily, the perennial plant has a much wider distribution outside Ireland? (March 24)
... that in 1725 Hans Sloane described a plant he called Prickly-Pole as the Jamaican tree species that was "the most fit to make Rods and Scowrers for Guns"? (March 25)
... that a deep-sea fish known as a black ruff was caught in a salmon net in the Firth of Forth and donated to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art in 1901? (March 29)
... that the flowering plant Gentianella anglica is found only in Great Britain? (March 30)

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April 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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April 2020—Issue 013

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Danuvius guggenmosi by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by J Milburn Neanderthal by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Homo luzonensis by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Lythronax by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Ichthyovenator by PaleoGeekSquared, reviewed by FunkMonk Secretarybird by LittleJerry, Aa77zz and Casliber, reviewed by The Rambling Man James John Joicey by RLO1729, reviewed by The Rambling Man Homo naledi by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Vermilion flycatcher by CaptainEek, reviewed by HickoryOughtShirt?4 Canada lynx by Sainsf, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Alice Gray by Rhododendrites, reviewed by The Rambling Man Caryodendron orinocense by CPC273, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Jaguarundi by Sainsf, reviewed by Usernameunique Gigantopithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Starsandwhales Denisovan by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Starsandwhales Disease X by Britishfinance, reviewed by DannyS712

Newly nominated content
Lythronax by FunkMonk, Lythronaxargestes and IJReid Ichthyovenator by PaleoGeekSquared Neanderthal by Dunkleosteus77 Alpine newt by Tylototriton Secretarybird by LittleJerry, Aa77zz and Casliber List of ursids by PresN Borchgrevinkium by Super Dromaeosaurus Caryodendron orinocense by CPC273 Siamosaurus by PaleoGeekSquared Canada lynx by Sainsf Vietnam mouse-deer by Sainsf Jaguarundi by Sainsf Vermilion flycatcher by CaptainEek Alice Gray by Rhododendrites Gigantopithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Paleobiota of the Posidonia Shale by Yewtharaptor Meerkat by Sainsf

News at a glance

WikiProject Birds gained a new task force. A discussion determined that WikiProject Poultry might be more successful as a task force, with the move completed 15 April.
Round 2 of the WikiCup wrapped up this month. Several editors moved on to Round 3 by scoring points in biodiversity-related areas, including Sainsf, Casliber, Dunkleosteus77, CaptainEek, Guettarda, and Enwebb. Dunkleosteus77 finished at the top of the Tree of Life pack with 608 points, finishing 9th overall in the round.
After a relatively quiet February and March, with only 11 total articles nominated for GA and none for FAC, April brought a shower of nominations. In total, 5 articles were nominated for FAC, 1 for FLC, and 11 for GA.

Tree of Life's growing featured content

Inspired by a March 2020 post at WikiProject Medicine detailing the growth of Featured Articles over time, we decided to reproduce that table here, adding a second table showing the growth of Good Articles. Tree of Life articles are placed in the "Biology" category for FAs, which has seen a growth of 381% since 2008. Only two other subjects had a greater growth than Biology: Business, economics, and finance; and Warfare.

Percentage Growth in FA Categories, 2008–2019, Legend:

Considerably above average, Above average, Average

Below average , Considerably below average, Poor

Featured Article Category as of	Feb 23, 2008	Sep 16, 2008	Sep 16, 2010	Dec 1, 2011	Jan 1, 2015	Jan 1, 2020	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2011	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2020
Art, architecture and archaeology	65	72	117	128	175	271	97%	317%
Awards, decorations and vexillology	24	26	28	27	26	24	1.3%	0%
Biology	130	155	261	326	456	625	151%	381%
Business, economics and finance	16	19	22	44	73	116	175%	625%
Chemistry and mineralogy	29	31	34	37	40	46	28%	59%
Computing	17	17	17	18	16	14	5.9%	−18%
Culture and society	40	48	61	65	77	104^B	63%	160%
Education	30	34	36	38	40	40	27%	33%
Engineering and technology	35	37	38	40	43	49	14%	40%
Food and drink	11	11	9	13	17	21^B	18%	91%
Geography and places	148	158	181	185	213	232	25%	57%
Geology and geophysics	9	12	18	20	23	29	122%	222%
Health and medicine	31	36	42	43	51	52	39%	68%
History	146	154	189	201	239	308	38%	111%
Language and linguistics	17	15	13	13	12	15	−24%	−12%
Law	29	34	41	49	65	72	69%	148%
Literature and theatre	108	134	161	191	258	316^B	77%	193%
Mathematics	13	14	19	17	18	18	31%	38%
Media	159	171	221	231	324	424	45%	167%
Meteorology	61	78	111	126	147	168	107%	175%
Music	153	182	232	254	331	398	66%	160%
Philosophy and psychology	12	13	12	12	12	14	0%	17%
Physics and astronomy	67	82	98	101	127	153	51%	128%
Politics and government	62	67	98	117	166	217	89%	250%
Religion, mysticism and mythology	36	44	73	84	105	121	133%	236%
Royalty, nobility and heraldry	75	90	94	108	124	173	44%	131%
Sport and recreation	119	162	268	298	365	449	150%	277%
Transport	47	74	107	128	171	213	172%	353%
Video gaming	72	96	127	137	180	222	90%	208%
Warfare	145	173	318	366	537	729	152%	403%
Total	1,906	2,239	3,046	3,417	4,431	5,695 ^A	79.3%	198.8%

Note A: Total is off by one; not worth looking for the error.
Note B Three food biographies moved [1] per discussion at WT:FAC
Note: The very odd dates used in earlier years result from pulling old data from the talk page at WP:FAS.

Good Article Category as of	Feb 23, 2008	Sep 16, 2008	Sep 16, 2010	Dec 1, 2011	Jan 1, 2015	Jan 1, 2020	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2011	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2020
Agriculture, food and drink	27	34	37	55	113	226	104%	737%
Art and architecture	134	188	321	450	683	1022	236%	663%
Engineering and technology	256	396	882	1198	1828	2407	368%	840%
Geography and places	191	248	424	523	716	1052	174%	451%
History	261	312	651	825	1219	1894	216%	626%
Language and literature	173	215	377	462	686	982	167%	468%
Mathematics	19	22	27	30	36	67	58%	253%
Media and drama	403	658	1352	1300	3070	3961	223%	883%
Music	357	527	997	1437	2532	3892	303%	990%
Natural sciences	544	686	1275	1717	2404	3426	216%	530%
Philosophy and religion	134	174	244	294	365	557	119%	316%
Social sciences and society	468	549	790	998	1430	1854	113%	296%
Sports and recreation	384	546	1074	1402	2350	3802	265%	890%
Video games	168	220	373	443	684	1349	164%	703%
Warfare	155	241	989	1654	2544	3996	967%	2478%
Total	3674	5016	9813	12788	20660	30487	248%	730%
Organisms*	119	130	402	528	685	1017	344%	755%

*subset of natural sciences

Unsurprisingly, the number of GAs has increased more rapidly than the number of FAs. Organisms, which is a subcategory of Natural sciences, has seen a GA growth of 755% since 2008, besting the Natural sciences overall growth of 530%. While Warfare had far and away the most significant growth of GAs, it's a clear outlier relative to other categories.

April DYKs

Jenny

White-throated round-eared bat

Formica fusca ants tending mealybugs

... that the human-like behaviour of Jenny (depicted), a resident of London Zoo, reinforced Charles Darwin's view that humans were "created from animals"? (3 April)
... that white-throated round-eared bats (example pictured) roost in cavities in active termite mounds excavated by the males? (4 April)
... that flatter mires in montane regions of Europe are often dominated by deergrass and cottongrass? (5 April)
... that the white-browed tit-warbler has been found to practice cooperative breeding? (6 April)
... that most species in the palm genus Desmoncus climb using grappling hook–like structures called acanthopylls? (7 April)
... that some ants herd scale insects (example pictured)? (10 April)
... that birds, bats and humans are the main hosts of members of the bed bug family? (12 April)
... that the sponge Aplysina cavernicola (pictured) has been used as a model organism to monitor the presence of isotopes such as americium-241 in seawater? (16 April)
... that although the alpine bartsia has a wide range in Europe and North America, it is known in the British Isles only from a few locations in northern England and the central Scottish Highlands? (19 April)
... that the orange-band surgeonfish (pictured) can change colour from dark to light almost instantaneously? (21 April)
... that the parasitic greater broomrape usually grows on the roots of the common broom or the European gorse? (24 April)
... that the tree Macaranga triloba encourages the ants that defend it by providing them with food bodies? (25 April)
... that amateur entomologist James John Joicey had a collection of 1.5 million butterflies? (28 April)
... that the globe chamomile (pictured), a member of the daisy family native to South Africa, infests parts of Arizona and California? (28 April)
... that the bicoloured sedge (pictured) was part of an attempted botanical fraud? (30 April)

A. cavernicola
Orange-band surgeonfish
Bicoloured sedge
Globe chamomile blooms

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May 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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May 2020—Issue 014

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Lythronax by FunkMonk, Lythronaxargestes and IJReid Meerkat by Sainsf, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Borchgrevinkium by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Amitchell125 Nakalipithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Gog the Mild Scanisaurus by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Gog the Mild Sand cat by BhagyaMani, reviewed by Aven13 Pigs in culture by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Sainsf Sun bear by Sainsf, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Megacephalosaurus by Macrophyseter, reviewed by Aven13 Cinnamon red bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Banteng by Sainsf, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Cartorhynchus by Lythronaxargestes, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Black-footed cat by BhagyaMani, reviewed by Amitchell125 Homo ergaster by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Black coral by Aven13, reviewed by Sainsf Heuglin's gazelle by Sainsf, reviewed by The Rambling Man Australopithecus garhi by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Chororapithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by IJReid Ornithocheiromorpha by JurassicClassic767, reviewed by IJReid

Newly nominated content
Gigantorhynchus by Mattximus Leech by LittleJerry, Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth List of mephitids by PesN Sand cat by BhagyaMani Cinnamon red bat by Enwebb Kristianstad Basin by Ichthyovenator Nakalipithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Scanisaurus by Ichthyovenator Sun bear by Sainsf Heuglin's gazelle by Sainsf Black coral by Aven13 Australopithecus garhi by Dunkleosteus77 Chororapithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Northern crested newt by Tylototriton Megacephalosaurus by Macrophyseter Banteng by Sainsf Cartorhynchus by Lythronaxargestes Ornithocheiromorpha by JurassicClassic767 Black-footed cat by BhagyaMani Bat virome by Enwebb Echinodon by IJReid Homo ergaster by Ichthyovenator Dwarf dog-faced bat by Enwebb Doedicurus by Dunkleosteus77 Zebra by LittleJerry

News at a glance

This month saw two Tree of Life editors gain the mop: CaptainEek (WikiProjects Birds and Plants) and Cwmhiraeth (familiar name at DYK, WikiProjects Plants, Animals, and Insects)
The April – May GAN backlog drive finished up, clearing the queue from nearly 700 outstanding nominations to about 350.

Interview with Jts1882

This month we're joined by Jts1882, who is active in depicting evolutionary relationship of taxa via cladograms. Part of this includes responding to cladogram requests, where interested editors can have cladograms made without using the templates themselves.

How did you come to be interested in systematics? Are you interested in systematics broadly, or is there a particular group you're most fond of?

As long as I can remember I’ve been interested in nature, starting with the animals and plants in the garden, school grounds, and local wood, and then more general wildlife worldwide. An interest in how things are classified grew from this. I like things to be organised and understanding the relationships between things and systems (not just living things) is a big part of that. Biology was always my favourite subject in school and took up a disproportionate part of my time. My interest in systematics is broad as I’d like to comprehend the whole tree of life, but the cat family is my favourite group.

What's the background behind cladogram requests? I see that it isn't a very old part of the Tree of Life

Well I can’t take any credit for the cladogram requests page, although I help out there sometimes. It was created by IJReid and there are several people who have helped there more than me. I think the motivation is that creating cladograms requires a knowledge of the templates that is daunting for many editors. It was one way of helping people who want to focus on content creation.

My main contribution to the cladograms is converting the {{clade}} template to use a Lua module. The template code was extremely difficult to follow and had to be repetitive (I can only admire the efforts of those who got the thing to work in the first place). The conversion to Lua made it more efficient, allowed larger and deeper cladograms, plus facilitating the introduction of new features. The cladogram request page was recently the venue for discussion on making time calibrated cladograms, which is now possible, if not particularly user friendly.

What advice do you have for an editor who wants to learn how to make cladograms?

The same advice I would give to someone facing any computer problem, just try it out. Start by taking existing code for a cladogram and make changes yourself. The main advice would be to format it properly so indents match the brackets vertically. Of course, not everyone wants to learn and if someone prefers to focus on article content there is the cladogram request page.

Examples of cladograms Jts1882 has created, showing different proposed clades for Neoaves

Jarvis et al (2014)

Prum et al (2015)

Suh (2016) — a hard polytomy

Columbea

	Mirandornithes (flamingos, grebes)

	Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)

Passerea

Otidae

	Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)

	Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)

Gruae

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)

Gruimorphae

	Gruiformes (cranes, rails)

	Charadriiformes (shorebirds)

Ardeae

	Aequornithes (core waterbirds)

	Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)

Telluraves

	Afroaves

	Australaves

(core landbirds)

Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)

Columbaves

	Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)

	Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)

Gruiformes (cranes, rails)

Aequorlitornithes

	Charadriiformes (shorebirds)

	Mirandornithes(flamingoes, grebes)

Ardeae

	Aequornithes (core waterbirds)

	Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)

(waterbirds)

Inopinaves

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)

Telluraves

	Afroaves

	Australaves

(core landbirds)

Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)

Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)

Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)

Gruiformes (cranes, rails)

Charadriiformes (shorebirds)

Mirandornithes (flamingoes, grebes)

Ardeae

	Aequornithes (core waterbirds)

	Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)

Telluraves

	Afroaves

	Australaves

(core landbirds)

Do you have any personal projects or goals you're working towards on Wikipedia?

As I said I like organisation and systems. So I find efforts like the automated taxobox system and {{taxonbar}} appealing. I would like to see more reuse of the major phylogenetic trees on Wikipedia with more use of consensus trees on the higher taxa. Too often they get edited based on one recent report and/or without proper citation. Animals and bilateria are examples where this is a problem.

Towards this I have been working on a system of phylogeny templates that can be reused flexibly. The {{Clade transclude}} template allows selective transclusion, so the phylogenetic trees on one page can be reused with modifications, i.e. can be pruned and grafted, used with or without images, with or without collapsible elements, etc. I have an example for the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification (see {{Phylogeny/APG IV}}) and one for squamates that also includes collapsible elements (see {{Phylogeny/Squamata}}).

A second project is to have a modular reference system for taxonomic resources. I have made some progress along this lines with the {{BioRef}} template. This started off simply as a way of hardlinking to Catalog of Fishes pages and I’ve gradually expanded it to cover other groups (e..g. FishBase, AmphibiaWeb and Amphibian Species of the World, Reptile Database, the Mammalian Diversity Database). The modular nature is still rudimentary and needs a rewrite before it is ready for wider use.

What would surprise your fellow editors to learn about your life off-Wikipedia?

I don’t think there is anything particularly surprising or interesting about my life. I’ve had an academic career as a research scientist but I don't think anyone could guess the area from my Wikipedia edits. I prefer to work on areas where I am learning at the same time. This why I spend more time with neglected topics (e.g. mosses at the moment). I start reading and then find that I’m not getting the information I want.

Anything else you'd like us to know?

My interest in the classification of things goes beyond biology. I am fascinated by mediaeval attempts to classify knowledge, such as Bacon in his The Advancement of Learning and Diderot and d’Alembert in their Encyclopédie. They were trying to come up with a universal scheme of knowledge just as the printing press was allowing greater dissemination of knowledge.

With the internet we are seeing a new revolution in knowledge dissemination. Just look at how we could read research papers on the COVID virus within weeks of its discovery. With an open internet, everyone has access, not just those with the luxury of books at home or good libraries. Sites like the Biodiversity Heritage Library allow you to read old scientific works without having to visit dusty university library stack rooms, while the taxonomic and checklist databases provide instant information on millions of living species. In principle, the whole world can now find out about anything, even if Douglas Adams warned we might be disinclined to do so.

This is why I like Wikipedia, with all its warts, it’s a means of organising the knowledge on the internet. In just two decades it’s become a first stop for knowledge and hopefully a gateway to more specialised sources. Perhaps developing this latter aspect, beyond providing good sources for what we say, is the next challenge for Wikipedia.

May DYKs

Slender Scotch burnet moth on a flower

Northern plains gray langur

Male vermilion flycatcher

Canada lynx

Meerkats

Hilarimorphites burmanica

Sun bear

... that coconut mites can be dispersed by wind, or perhaps by hitching a lift? (1 May)
... that Neanderthals went fishing? (1 May)
... that the Rowridge Valley in the Isle of Wight is the only known location for the wood calamint in Britain? (1 May)
... that Tetraponera penzigi is one of several species of ant that protect whistling thorn trees in East Africa from grazing giraffes and rhinoceroses? (3 May)
... that the Vietnam mouse-deer, which had been feared to have gone extinct nearly 30 years ago, was sighted again in 2019? (4 May)
... that most branchiobdellids use crayfish as hosts, living on their heads, carapaces, or claws, but in some instances inside their gill cavities? (5 May)
... that the song of the Madagascan hoopoe differs markedly from that of the African hoopoe? (5 May)
... that populations of the slender Scotch burnet (pictured), a European moth that lives in dry, lime-rich areas, have been declining? (6 May)
... that the spinosaurid dinosaur Ichthyovenator had two sails on its back? (9 May)
... that the scale insect Saissetia coffeae attacks many other plants besides coffee? (9 May)
... that entomologist Frederick Vincent Theobald wrote a five-volume monograph and sixty scientific papers on mosquitoes? (12 May)
... that the northern plains gray langur monkey (example pictured) is killed in India for food and to prevent crop raiding, despite being considered sacred by Hindus? (12 May)
... that the leech Limnatis nilotica can affect humans and livestock, entering hosts through the mouth, nose, or other orifices? (12 May)
... that while the termite Pterotermes occidentis inhabits dead blue palo verde in the Sonoran Desert, Marginitermes hubbardi prefers dead saguaro? (14 May)
... that the tree Barteria fistulosa is associated with Tetraponera aethiops, an aggressive species of ant that lives in its hollow branches and twigs? (15 May)
... that Miller's langur, one of the rarest primates in Borneo, was feared to be extinct until a 2012 study rediscovered it in an area where it was previously unknown? (16 May)
... that most of the known Gigantopithecus fossils are of teeth because the other bones are likely to have been eaten by porcupines? (17 May)
... that Tetraponera tessmanni, a very aggressive ant, is able to establish dominance over the whole of the liana in which it lives, which may be 50 m (164 ft) long? (17 May)
... that mesophyletid weevils have only been found in Burmese amber? (18 May)
... that Pyrocephalus, the genus name of the vermilion flycatcher (example pictured), literally means 'fire head'? (19 May)
... that the male bigtooth cardinalfish broods a ball of eggs in his mouth? (20 May)
... that in the Australian Journal of Herpetology, a first-year student and a high school teacher reassessed the taxonomy of Australia's entire reptile class, naming 33 novel genera and 214 new species? (20 May)
... that the Arizona dampwood termite exclusively colonizes dead parts of standing trees? (22 May)
... that Megaceroides algericus is one of only two deer species known to have been native to Africa, alongside the Barbary stag? (23 May)
... that besides eating ants and termites, the waved woodpecker feeds on fruits, berries, and seeds? (24 May)
... that populations of the Canada lynx (pictured) undergo cyclic rises and falls in line with those of the snowshoe hare? (25 May)
... that despite being known as the Mexican hydrangea, Clerodendrum bungei is neither from Mexico nor a species of hydrangea? (25 May)
... that meerkats (examples pictured) use alarm calls that can identify the type of predator posing the risk, the level of danger, and the caller itself? (27 May)
... that the frog Boophis fayi can be identified by its unusual green-and-turquoise eyes? (30 May)
... that members of the fly family Apystomyiidae (example depicted) have been found in Late Jurassic sediments in Kazakhstan? (30 May)
... that the sun bear (pictured) is the smallest of all bear species? (31 May)

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June/July 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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June and July 2020—Issue 015

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Canada lynx by Sainsf Gigantorhynchus by Mattximus Leech by LittleJerry, Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth Orangutan by LittleJerry Secretarybird by LittleJerry, Aa77zz and Casliber Vermilion flycatcher by CaptainEek Bat virome by Enwebb, reviewed by Chidgk1 Doedicurus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Dwarf dog-faced bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Echinodon by IJReid, reviewed by JurassicClassic767 Edvard August Vainio by Esculenta, reviewed by ChiswickCahp Hammer-headed bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Homo rudolfensis by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by JurassicClassic767 Nina Demme by SusunW, reviewed by Enwebb Northern crested newt by Tylototriton, reviewed by Enwebb Pterodactylus by JurassicClassic767, reviewed by ChiswickCahp Zebra by LittleJerry, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77

Newly nominated content
Horseshoe bat by Enwebb Siamosaurus by PaleoGeekSquared Zebra by LittleJerry Australopithecus afarensis by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus africanus by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus bahrelghazali by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus deyiremeda by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus sediba by Dunkleosteus77 Bonelli's eagle by Sandhillcrane Great flying fox by Enwebb Homo habilis by Dunkleosteus77 Markham's storm petrel by Therapyisgood Ornithocheiridae by JurassicClassic767 Paranthropus aethiopicus by Dunkleosteus77 Paranthropus boisei by Dunkleosteus77 Paranthropus robustus by Dunkleosteus77 Tatenectes by Slate Weasel

News at a glance

This issue is a double issue, but the plan is to return to monthly henceforth.
A discussion at WikiProject Palaeontology about internal peer review processes led to the creation of a peer review space. In contrast to the more formal Peer Review, PalaeoPR focuses on short "fact checks", emphasizing content over style. Reviews are meant to be low commitment, with "drive-by reviews" encouraged. Since its inception on 8 July, seven articles have been submitted to PalaeoPR.
After a highly competitive third round, two Tree of Life editors advanced to the fourth round of the WikiCup: Dunkleosteus77 and Sainsf
A February 2020 paper published in PLOS noted that Mammalian Species is one of the most over-cited journals on Wikipedia relative to how frequently it is cited in other academic works.

Categorizing life with DexDor

DexDor is a WikiGnome with a particular interest in article categorization, including how organisms are categorized.

How did you become interested in editing biodiversity topics on Wikipedia?: I'm a wikignome who tries to remove unnecessary complexity and confusion in Wikipedia. I specialise in categorization. I've worked on categorization of several topic areas (e.g. military equipment) - anywhere where I see things like category tags on articles that the category text doesn't support. Categorization of organisms is one area I'm currently looking at (my essay on this).

You seem to be particularly interested in geographic categorization of organisms. What are some issues in this area?: One issue is that there are several possible relationships between an organism and a region (i.e. what the "of" in a "Xs of Y" means) - the organism may be found throughout the region, somewhere in the region, only in the region (i.e. endemic to that region) - there are categories for each of these (and others) and some categories have been unclear about their exact meaning. Then there's introductions by man, locally extinct species, occasional visitors...

Another issue is that some editors have thought it's appropriate to create categories for very small areas ("Spiders of Vatican City" is only a slight exaggeration) and put a few articles in them, thus creating a category that is both massively incomplete and non-defining for the articles in it.

There have been several (now blocked) editors who have been disruptive in this area, but a confusing and sprawling categorization scheme is also partly due to editors from a particular background categorizing a particular article in a way that appears to make sense, but doesn't really make sense in the wider categorization scheme - for example, if an article mentions the countries at the extremes of an animal's distribution, the animal is categorized just for those countries.

What potential solutions do you see for categorizing organisms by geography? How can other editors help address this issue, or at least, not make it worse?: We should have some guidelines that tell editors how to categorize any article about an organism (including any geographical categorization). I've started drafting guidelines at User:DexDor/BioCat. The guidelines are also a good way to ensure that the categorization of articles about organisms is aligned with categorization of other articles and may help us to identify where there are problems, inconsistencies etc in the categorization. I welcome suggestions for improvement of the guidelines (which should at some point be moved into WP:TOL).

Regarding geographical categorization of animals the main advice for editors would be to not create categories for any new areas and to only create a new category if you intend to populate it.

What have you learned from being a Wikipedia editor?: That lots of people (from varied backgrounds) each making (mostly) small improvements (like ants in an ants nest?) and only understanding some parts of Wikipedia can produce such a wonderful resource. But also, how that tends to result in ever-increasing complexity which negatively affects editors and readers.

Is there anything about your life outside Wikipedia that would surprise us?: Not sure - I'm a member of a band.

June DYKs

Blue calamintha bee

Culture of S. aureus

Ambay pumpwood

Heuglin's gazelle

Gold-striped frog

... that despite being a member of the cat family, the jaguarundi has several features in common with mustelids such as otters and weasels? (2 June)
... that scientists were unsure whether the blue calamintha bee (pictured) still existed until it was observed again in March 2020? (2 June)
... that many of the animals regarded as pests have co-evolved with humans, adapting to the warm, sheltered conditions that a building provides? (3 June)
... that the banteng is the second endangered species to be successfully cloned, and the first clone to survive beyond infancy? (5 June)
... that the colonial morphology of Staphylococcus species (culture pictured) is described as "creamy"? (5 June)
... that ant gardens are cultivated by several species of ant, including Crematogaster carinata? (6 June)
... that the presence of the beetle Coelomera ruficornis on its host tree (pictured) is tolerated by the ant Azteca alfari, but not by the ant Azteca muelleri? (8 June)
... that cattle and deer sometimes stand under trees where southern plains gray langurs are feeding in order to consume the edible pieces that the monkeys drop? (10 June)
... that Singaporean authorities hope that the Mandai Wildlife Bridge will reduce the risk of animals such as Sunda pangolins and leopard cats becoming roadkill? (13 June)
... that the gold-striped frog (pictured) sometimes breeds inside an active nest of leafcutter ants? (13 June)
... that Heuglin's gazelle (illustrated), reportedly last seen in Eritrea over a century earlier during Italian colonial rule, was sighted again in the country last year? (12 June)
... that Siamosaurus, a large bipedal carnivore from the Early Cretaceous of Thailand, is the first crocodilian-like dinosaur named from Asia? (14 June)
... that Homo ergaster may have been the first species of archaic humans to control fire? (14 June)
... that the small frog Cochranella nola has yellow intestines, a green tongue, and dark green bones? (16 June)
... that Nigel, nicknamed "the world's loneliest gannet" (species pictured), attempted to mate with a concrete decoy bird on Mana Island, New Zealand? (17 June)
... that the male giant glass frog has a hooked spur on his upper arm which is used when fighting rivals? (19 June)
... that vestigial organs in the Brazilian Callichirus major population (example species pictured) suggest Callichirus may be the only crustacean genus with basal, yet not universal, hermaphroditism? (20 June)
... that Megacephalosaurus was one of the last known pliosaurs and coexisted with some of the earliest mosasaurs? (21 June)
... that when boiled in milk, black coral (example pictured) emits a faint scent of myrrh? (21 June)
... that one of the factors affecting the future of the Huanchaca mouse is the increased cultivation of biofuels? (22 June)
... that the Strawberries and Cream Tree (pictured) is noted for producing pink blossoms on one side of the tree and white on the other, when it blooms every spring? (23 June)
... that the Chilean seaside cinclodes bobs its tail while it walks and flares its wings while it sings? (24 June)
... that Boie's frog (pictured) and the Banhado frog both resemble dead leaves on the floor of the forest? (25 June)
... that the extinct sumac species Rhus republicensis is named for Republic, Washington? (30 June)

Australasian gannet
C. brasiliensis, a species
in the C. major complex
Deep-sea Antipathes dendrochristos
Strawberries and Cream Tree
in full bloom in April 2020
Boie's frog

July DYKs

Amazon parrot

Life reconstruction of Pterodactylus antiquus

... that the Newland Oak in Gloucestershire took "200 years to grow, 200 years to exist, and 200 to die"? (2 July)
... that the hollow trunk of Queen Elizabeth's Oak was used as a prison? (4 July)
... that Markham's storm petrel, which nests in Peru and northern Chile, has been described as "one of the least known seabirds in the world"? (7 July)
... that the Asian freshwater leech Barbronia weberi has invaded North Carolina? (11 July)
... that a large, elderly, "decently behaved" Russian brown bear once lived in the Leeds suburb of Headingley? (12 July)
... that the female Andes marsupial frog carries her developing young in a pouch on her back? (14 July)
... that the Amazon parrot (depicted) was implicated as a source of the great parrot fever pandemic of 1929–30, in which more than 100 people died? (17 July)
... that the frog Corythomantis greeningi retreats into a hole, blocks the entrance with its spiny head, and injects venom into anything that tries to dislodge it? (18 July)
... that the reef box crab uses its powerful pincers to break open the shells of snails? (21 July)
... that carnivorous wildlife of North Macedonia as small as the Balkan lynx have been reported to attack not just livestock, but humans too? (22 July)
... that the sea slug Discodoris boholiensis exhibits photokinesis? (22 July)
... that the genus Pterodactylus (species depicted), the scientific name for a pterodactyl, had been considered a "wastebasket taxon" as many species were assigned to it and later reassigned? (23 July)
... that the sea urchin Abatus cordatus broods its young for nine months in pockets on its upper surface? (24 July)
... that Harold Clyde Bingham trailed a troop of gorillas for 100 hours in 1929? (25 July)
... that the sea urchin Goniocidaris umbraculum moves its eggs with its tube feet, assisted by cilia, to an area near its mouth where they can be brooded? (27 July)

Discuss this issue

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August 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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September 2021—Issue 016

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Horseshoe bat by Enwebb Siamosaurus by PaleoGeekSquared Australopithecus sediba by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Homo habilis by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Enwebb Tatenectes by Slate Weasel, reviewed by FunkMonk

Newly nominated content
Black-and-red broadbill by AryKun Turtle by LittleJerry Symphyotrichum lateriflorum by Eewilson Dracophyllum fiordense by Dracophyllum Scarlet-and-white tanager by AryKun Viatkogorgon by FunkMonk Punctelia borreri by Esculenta Chivi vireo by AryKun Mountain kingfisher by AryKun Kererū by Ambrosia10

Hoax taxon sniffed out after nearly fifteen years

Cross posted from the Signpost

The jackalope, a close relative of Mustelodon

On August 7, WikiProject Palaeontology member Rextron discovered a suspicious taxon article, Mustelodon, which was created in November 2005. The article lacked references and the subsequent discussion on WikiProject Palaeontology found that the alleged type locality (where the fossil was first discovered) of Lago Nandarajo "near the northern border of Panama" was nonexistent. In fact, Panama does not even really have a northern border, as it is bounded along the north by the Caribbean Sea. No other publications or databases mentioned Mustelodon, save a fleeting mention in a 2019 book that presumably followed Wikipedia, Felines of the World.

The article also appeared in four other languages, Catalan, Spanish, Dutch, and Serbian. In Serbian Wikipedia, a note at the bottom of the page warned: "It is important to note here that there is no data on this genus in the official scientific literature, and all attached data on the genus Mustelodon on this page are taken from the English Wikipedia and are the only known data on this genus of mammals, so the validity of this genus is questionable."

Editors took action to alert our counterparts on other projects, and these versions were removed also. As the editor who reached out to Spanish and Catalan Wikipedia, it was somewhat challenging to navigate these mostly foreign languages (I have a limited grasp of Spanish). I doubted that the article had very many watchers, so I knew I had to find some WikiProjects where I could post a machine translation advising of the hoax, and asking that users follow local protocols to remove the article. I was surprised to find, however, that Catalan Wikipedia does not tag articles for WikiProjects on talk pages, meaning I had to fumble around to find what I needed (turns out that WikiProjects are Viquiprojectes in Catalan!) Mustelodon remains on Wikidata, where its "instance of" property was swapped from "taxon" to "fictional taxon".

How did this article have such a long lifespan? Early intervention is critical for removing hoaxes. A 2016 report found that a hoax article that survives its first day has an 18% chance of lasting a year.^[1] Additionally, hoax articles tend to have longer lifespans if they are in inconspicuous parts of Wikipedia, where they do not receive many views. Mustelodon was only viewed a couple times a day, on average.

Mustelodon survived a brush with death three years into its lifespan. The article was proposed for deletion in September 2008, with a deletion rationale of "No references given; cannot find any evidence in peer-reviewed journals that this alleged genus actually exists". Unfortunately, the proposed deletion was contested and the template removed, though the declining editor did not give a rationale. Upon its rediscovery in August 2020, Mustelodon was tagged for speedy deletion under CSD G3 as a "blatant hoax". This was challenged, and an Articles for Deletion discussion followed. On 12 August, the AfD was closed as a SNOW delete. WikiProject Palaeontology members ensured that any trace of it was scrubbed from legitimate articles. The fictional mammal was finally, truly extinct.

At the ripe old age of 14 years, 9 months, this is the longest-lived documented hoax on Wikipedia, topping the previous documented record of 14 years, 5 months, set by The Gates of Saturn, a fictitious television show, which was incidentally also discovered in August 2020. How do we discover other hoax taxa? Could we use Wikidata to discover taxa are not linked to databases like ITIS, Fossilworks, and others?

^ Kumar, Srijan; West, Robert; Leskovec, Jure (April 2016). "Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes" (PDF). Proceedings of the 25th International World Wide Web Conference: 591–602. doi:10.1145/2872427.2883085.

Spotlight with Mattximus

Apororhynchus hemignathi, a spiny-headed worm with the distinction of being one of the first named animal taxa when organized alphabetically

This month's spotlight is with Mattximus, author of two Featured Articles and 29 Featured Lists at current count.

How did you become involved with editing biodiversity articles?

I think I have a compulsion to make lists, it doesn't show up in my real life, but online I secretly get a lot of satisfaction making orderly lists and tables. It's a bit of a secret of mine, because it doesn't manifest in any other part of my life. My background is in biology, so this was a natural (haha) fit.

You have an impressive number of FAs under your belt. Two of your more recent ones, Apororhynchus and Gigantorhynchus, are part of what you referred to as an "experiment". How did you choose these articles, and what's next for you in this experiment?

This experiment was just to see if I could get any random article to FA status, so I picked the very first alphabetical animal species according to the taxonomy and made that attempt. Technically, there isn't enough information for a species page so I just merged the species into a genus and went from there. It was a fun exercise, but doing it alone is not the most fun so it's probably on pause for the foreseeable future.

Note: Aporhynchus is the first alphabetical taxon as follows: Animalia, Acanthocephala, Archiacanthocephala, Apororhynchida, Apororhynchidae, Apororhynchus

What advice would you give to someone who wants to nominate their first FAC?

I would recommend getting a good article nominated, then a featured list up before tackling the FA. Lists are a bit more forgiving but give you a taste of what standards to expect from FA. The most time consuming thing is proper citations so make sure that is in order before starting either.

Is there anything that would surprise us to learn about your life off-Wikipedia?

My personality in real life does not match my wikipedia persona. I'm not a very organized, or orderly in real life, but the wikipedia pages I brought to FL or FA are all very organized. Maybe it's my outlet for a more free-flowing life as a scientist/teacher.

Anything else you'd like us to know?

The fact that wikipedia exists free of profit motive and free for everyone really is something special and I encourage everyone to donate a few dollars to the cause.

August DYKs

Woolly thistle

Life reconstruction of Ankylorhiza tiedemani

Female cicada laying eggs

Acampe rigida

... that in the Brazilian state of Bahia, cerrado mice are often caught by barn owls, but seldom by researchers? (1 August)
... that ornithologist Corina Newsome and herpetologist Earyn McGee held events as part of the inaugural Black Birders Week, an effort to highlight the challenges faced by Black nature enthusiasts? (5 August)
... that the flower buds of the woolly thistle (pictured) can be eaten in a similar way to artichokes? (8 August)
... that the French peanut is native to Brazil? (10 August)
... that the 800-year-old Minchenden Oak is one of the oldest trees in London? (14 August)
... that the forward-facing incisors of the extinct dolphin Ankylorhiza (restoration pictured) may have been used for ramming their prey, similar to a hunting method used by modern orcas? (16 August)
... that scientists accidentally created a hybrid of two endangered fish species, called the sturddlefish? (17 August)
... that despite having the widest distribution in the United States, the arid-land subterranean termite causes less structural damage than other members of its genus? (19 August)
... that the Eocene leaf species Tetracentron hopkinsii was not confirmed from Washington state until 2018? (19 August)
... that Helen Ballard was a hellebore horticulturist? (22 August)
... that in 2021, the dwarf periodical cicada (pictured) is due to emerge in parts of eastern North America, not having been seen for 17 years? (24 August)
... that the fossil sumac Rhus boothillensis is named for a public fossil digging site in Republic, Washington? (25 August)
... that the orchid Acampe rigida (pictured) is pollinated by raindrops? (28 August)
... that fossils identified as Pentacentron sternhartae may actually be the fruits of another fossil species? (29 August)
... that American naturalist William Harvey Brown, who went to Africa to collect specimens, ended up fighting in two wars there? (30 August)
... that the rosy spindle cowry, a species of sea snail, lives exclusively on gorgonians? (30 August)

Discuss this issue

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Delivered on behalf of Enwebb (talk) 17:10, 2 September 2020 (UTC)Reply

August 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

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September 2021—Issue 016

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Horseshoe bat by Enwebb Siamosaurus by PaleoGeekSquared Australopithecus sediba by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Homo habilis by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Enwebb Tatenectes by Slate Weasel, reviewed by FunkMonk

Newly nominated content
Black-and-red broadbill by AryKun Turtle by LittleJerry Symphyotrichum lateriflorum by Eewilson Dracophyllum fiordense by Dracophyllum Scarlet-and-white tanager by AryKun Viatkogorgon by FunkMonk Punctelia borreri by Esculenta Chivi vireo by AryKun Mountain kingfisher by AryKun Kererū by Ambrosia10

Hoax taxon sniffed out after nearly fifteen years

Cross posted from the Signpost

The jackalope, a close relative of Mustelodon

On August 7, WikiProject Palaeontology member Rextron discovered a suspicious taxon article, Mustelodon, which was created in November 2005. The article lacked references and the subsequent discussion on WikiProject Palaeontology found that the alleged type locality (where the fossil was first discovered) of Lago Nandarajo "near the northern border of Panama" was nonexistent. In fact, Panama does not even really have a northern border, as it is bounded along the north by the Caribbean Sea. No other publications or databases mentioned Mustelodon, save a fleeting mention in a 2019 book that presumably followed Wikipedia, Felines of the World.

The article also appeared in four other languages, Catalan, Spanish, Dutch, and Serbian. In Serbian Wikipedia, a note at the bottom of the page warned: "It is important to note here that there is no data on this genus in the official scientific literature, and all attached data on the genus Mustelodon on this page are taken from the English Wikipedia and are the only known data on this genus of mammals, so the validity of this genus is questionable."

Editors took action to alert our counterparts on other projects, and these versions were removed also. As the editor who reached out to Spanish and Catalan Wikipedia, it was somewhat challenging to navigate these mostly foreign languages (I have a limited grasp of Spanish). I doubted that the article had very many watchers, so I knew I had to find some WikiProjects where I could post a machine translation advising of the hoax, and asking that users follow local protocols to remove the article. I was surprised to find, however, that Catalan Wikipedia does not tag articles for WikiProjects on talk pages, meaning I had to fumble around to find what I needed (turns out that WikiProjects are Viquiprojectes in Catalan!) Mustelodon remains on Wikidata, where its "instance of" property was swapped from "taxon" to "fictional taxon".

How did this article have such a long lifespan? Early intervention is critical for removing hoaxes. A 2016 report found that a hoax article that survives its first day has an 18% chance of lasting a year.^[1] Additionally, hoax articles tend to have longer lifespans if they are in inconspicuous parts of Wikipedia, where they do not receive many views. Mustelodon was only viewed a couple times a day, on average.

Mustelodon survived a brush with death three years into its lifespan. The article was proposed for deletion in September 2008, with a deletion rationale of "No references given; cannot find any evidence in peer-reviewed journals that this alleged genus actually exists". Unfortunately, the proposed deletion was contested and the template removed, though the declining editor did not give a rationale. Upon its rediscovery in August 2020, Mustelodon was tagged for speedy deletion under CSD G3 as a "blatant hoax". This was challenged, and an Articles for Deletion discussion followed. On 12 August, the AfD was closed as a SNOW delete. WikiProject Palaeontology members ensured that any trace of it was scrubbed from legitimate articles. The fictional mammal was finally, truly extinct.

At the ripe old age of 14 years, 9 months, this is the longest-lived documented hoax on Wikipedia, topping the previous documented record of 14 years, 5 months, set by The Gates of Saturn, a fictitious television show, which was incidentally also discovered in August 2020. How do we discover other hoax taxa? Could we use Wikidata to discover taxa are not linked to databases like ITIS, Fossilworks, and others?

^ Kumar, Srijan; West, Robert; Leskovec, Jure (April 2016). "Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes" (PDF). Proceedings of the 25th International World Wide Web Conference: 591–602. doi:10.1145/2872427.2883085.

Spotlight with Mattximus

Apororhynchus hemignathi, a spiny-headed worm with the distinction of being one of the first named animal taxa when organized alphabetically

This month's spotlight is with Mattximus, author of two Featured Articles and 29 Featured Lists at current count.

How did you become involved with editing biodiversity articles?

I think I have a compulsion to make lists, it doesn't show up in my real life, but online I secretly get a lot of satisfaction making orderly lists and tables. It's a bit of a secret of mine, because it doesn't manifest in any other part of my life. My background is in biology, so this was a natural (haha) fit.

You have an impressive number of FAs under your belt. Two of your more recent ones, Apororhynchus and Gigantorhynchus, are part of what you referred to as an "experiment". How did you choose these articles, and what's next for you in this experiment?

This experiment was just to see if I could get any random article to FA status, so I picked the very first alphabetical animal species according to the taxonomy and made that attempt. Technically, there isn't enough information for a species page so I just merged the species into a genus and went from there. It was a fun exercise, but doing it alone is not the most fun so it's probably on pause for the foreseeable future.

Note: Aporhynchus is the first alphabetical taxon as follows: Animalia, Acanthocephala, Archiacanthocephala, Apororhynchida, Apororhynchidae, Apororhynchus

What advice would you give to someone who wants to nominate their first FAC?

I would recommend getting a good article nominated, then a featured list up before tackling the FA. Lists are a bit more forgiving but give you a taste of what standards to expect from FA. The most time consuming thing is proper citations so make sure that is in order before starting either.

Is there anything that would surprise us to learn about your life off-Wikipedia?

My personality in real life does not match my wikipedia persona. I'm not a very organized, or orderly in real life, but the wikipedia pages I brought to FL or FA are all very organized. Maybe it's my outlet for a more free-flowing life as a scientist/teacher.

Anything else you'd like us to know?

The fact that wikipedia exists free of profit motive and free for everyone really is something special and I encourage everyone to donate a few dollars to the cause.

August DYKs

Woolly thistle

Life reconstruction of Ankylorhiza tiedemani

Female cicada laying eggs

Acampe rigida

... that in the Brazilian state of Bahia, cerrado mice are often caught by barn owls, but seldom by researchers? (1 August)
... that ornithologist Corina Newsome and herpetologist Earyn McGee held events as part of the inaugural Black Birders Week, an effort to highlight the challenges faced by Black nature enthusiasts? (5 August)
... that the flower buds of the woolly thistle (pictured) can be eaten in a similar way to artichokes? (8 August)
... that the French peanut is native to Brazil? (10 August)
... that the 800-year-old Minchenden Oak is one of the oldest trees in London? (14 August)
... that the forward-facing incisors of the extinct dolphin Ankylorhiza (restoration pictured) may have been used for ramming their prey, similar to a hunting method used by modern orcas? (16 August)
... that scientists accidentally created a hybrid of two endangered fish species, called the sturddlefish? (17 August)
... that despite having the widest distribution in the United States, the arid-land subterranean termite causes less structural damage than other members of its genus? (19 August)
... that the Eocene leaf species Tetracentron hopkinsii was not confirmed from Washington state until 2018? (19 August)
... that Helen Ballard was a hellebore horticulturist? (22 August)
... that in 2021, the dwarf periodical cicada (pictured) is due to emerge in parts of eastern North America, not having been seen for 17 years? (24 August)
... that the fossil sumac Rhus boothillensis is named for a public fossil digging site in Republic, Washington? (25 August)
... that the orchid Acampe rigida (pictured) is pollinated by raindrops? (28 August)
... that fossils identified as Pentacentron sternhartae may actually be the fruits of another fossil species? (29 August)
... that American naturalist William Harvey Brown, who went to Africa to collect specimens, ended up fighting in two wars there? (30 August)
... that the rosy spindle cowry, a species of sea snail, lives exclusively on gorgonians? (30 August)

Discuss this issue

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Delivered on behalf of Enwebb (talk) 22:52, 2 September 2020 (UTC)Reply

WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter – 018

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

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WP:TOLN

February 2022—Issue 018

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Black-and-yellow broadbill by AryKun Papuan mountain pigeon by AryKun List of leporids by PresN Algerian nuthatch by 2001:4455:364:A800:C13C:8A64:1CEF:F186, reviewed by AryKun Jungle bush quail by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Lycorma imperialis by Etriusus, reviewed by Ealdgyth Harry Allan by Dracophyllum, reviewed by Esculenta Banded bullfrog by DanCherek, reviewed by GhostRiver

Newly nominated content
Queen angelfish by LittleJerry Red panda by LittleJerry and BhagyaMani List of lagomorphs by PresN Corsican nuthatch by 2001:4455:364:A800:39A6:A5D8:C903:5E1D Firefly by Chiswick Chap Mountain pigeon by AryKun Bonacynodon by Trilletrollet Golden eagle by Vaco98

News at a glance

A competitive first round of the Wikicup ends, with eight TOL editors moving into the second round: AryKun, GhostRiver, Ealdgyth, Wretchskull, Charlesjsharp, Dracophyllum, Guettarda, and Casliber.

February DYKs

Dudleya cymosa subsp. pumila

A Golden Retriever retrieving a shot game bird

Rhododendrons at Sheringham Park

Seagrass in La Ciotat, France

... that Ozzie was the first gorilla to take his own blood pressure voluntarily? (February 1)
... that the Sonoran blue butterfly uses Dudleya cymosa subsp. pumila (pictured) as a larval foodplant and hummingbirds feed on its nectar? (February 2)
... that the spotted lanternfly has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat swelling since the 1100s? (February 2)
... that all Golden Retrievers (example pictured) descend from a golden-coloured Flat-coated Retriever named Nous and a Tweed Water Spaniel named Belle? (February 4)
... that Fagus langevinii is considered to be the oldest extinct species of beech tree? (February 5)
... that the white-headed fruit dove (Ptilinopus eugeniae) was named after Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of the French? (February 5)
... that Coleman's melibe is said to look like a "string of snot in the water"? (February 6)
... that Mini ature is the largest frog in its genus? (February 7)
... that the New Zealand stonefly Stenoperla prasina was the five millionth specimen digitised by the Natural History Museum in London? (February 8)
... that Wallace's fruit dove has been described as being one of the most beautiful fruit doves? (February 9)
... that the woodland garden (example pictured), "colourfully planted with exotic shrubs and herbaceous plants, dominated English horticulture from 1910 to 1960"? (February 17)
... that seas are being rewilded with seagrass (example pictured)? (February 17)
... that Potamophylax coronavirus's range has been described as a battlefield between scientists and hydropower plant management? (February 23)
... that the genus Xochiquetzallia was named after the Aztec goddess of flowers? (February 26)
... that despite being nicknamed a "lanternbug", Lycorma imperialis does not actually emit any light? (February 28)
... that although it is a bird of prey, the white-fronted falconet is only 14 to 17 cm (5.5 to 6.7 in) long and mainly feeds on insects? (February 28)

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March 2022—Issue 019

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Queen angelfish by LittleJerry Alaska marmot by An anonymous username, not my real name, reviewed by Ealdgyth Firefly by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Ealdgyth Afrolychas braueri by OnlyFixingProse, reviewed by An anonymous username, not my real name Mountain pigeon by AryKun, reviewed by Ealdgyth Dracopristis by Fossiladder13, reviewed by Ealdgyth Bonacynodon by Trilletrollet, reviewed by AryKun Lichexanthone by Esculenta, reviewed by Szmenderowiecki Yellowtail flounder by Eviolite, reviewed by RecycledPixels Sexual selection by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by AryKun

Newly nominated content
White-headed fruit dove by AryKun Mountain pigeon by AryKun Florence Merriam Bailey by GhostRiver Agelenopsis pennsylvanica by Kline Hypericum aegypticum by Fritzmann Guadeloupe woodpecker by OnlyFixingProse

News at a glance

A discussion is ongoing over whether the pencil icon for editing taxonomy templates should be changed.

March DYKs

Elysia timida

Humbertium covidum

Door Tree

... that although it is a bird of prey, the white-fronted falconet is only 14 to 17 cm (5.5 to 6.7 in) long and mainly feeds on insects? (March 1)
... that Squatina mapama was named after Spain's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment? (March 3)
... that the sea slug Elysia timida (example pictured) absorbs its colouration from its algae-based diet? (March 3)
... that Seal Rescue Ireland comforts orphaned seal pups with fake mothers made of wetsuits? (March 4)
... that the flatworm Humbertium covidum (pictured), named after the COVID-19 pandemic, was classified in a study written mostly during the initial lockdown? (March 6)
... that the Door Tree (pictured), which stood for nearly 200 years, was cut down because of a brother's hatred? (March 8)
... that the nature documentary The Green Planet, narrated by David Attenborough, has been compared to both horror films and a "plant porno"? (March 10)
... that the colour of the markings on Nesticus cellulanus can vary depending on the light level of the habitat, with darker habitats causing lighter markings? (March 15)
... that the gonads of the banded bullfrog remain ripe during dry periods so that it can mate soon after rainfall? (March 17)
... that Gea eff has the shortest scientific name of any spider species? (March 18)
... that the discovery of Bianchengichthys may shed new light on the evolution of all jawed vertebrates? (18 March)
... that Alaska marmots take turns acting as sentries to protect their colonies? (March 20)
... that some of the calls of the bare-headed laughingthrush have been described as "comical"? (March 25)
... that the Bornean stubtail forages more like a mouse than a bird? (March 29)
... that the rare Somali pigeon urgently needs a population survey? (March 31)

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter – 020

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April 2022—Issue 020

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Red panda by LittleJerry and BhagyaMani White-headed fruit dove by AryKun List of ochotonids by PresN Guadeloupe woodpecker by OnlyFixingProse, reviewed by Ealdgyth Magnetoreception by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Mover of molehills Macauley Island by Jo-Jo Eumerus, reviewed by Ealdgyth Black-breasted buttonquail by Casliber, reviewed by Ealdgyth Florence Merriam Bailey by GhostRiver, reviewed by SquareInARoundHole

Newly nominated content
Black-breasted buttonquail by Casliber List of birds of Tuvalu by AryKun List of cingulates by PresN List of didelphimorphs by PresN Stegotherium by Larrayal Resplendent quetzal by SadAttorney613 Electroreception and electrogenesis by Chiswick Chap Muja (alligator) by Amanuensis Balkanicus Punctelia graminicola by Esculenta Siegfried Huneck by Esculenta Abiogenesis by Chiswick Chap

News at a glance

The second round of the WikiCup ends with three TOL editors moving into the third round: AryKun, Ealdgyth, and GhostRiver.

April DYKs

Whitehead's broadbill

Anaea aidea

... that the rare Somali pigeon urgently needs a population survey? (April 1)
... that Darth Vader's anal shield has a "pronounced bell shape"? (April 2)
... that lichexanthone, a chemical found in some lichens, enhances human sperm motility and kills mosquito larvae? (April 3)
... that raptor persecution is a crime against birds of prey, and in Scotland, ravens are afforded honorary raptor status? (April 4)
... that the chestnut-hooded laughingthrush feeds on insects that have been hit by vehicles? (April 7)
... that the calls of Whitehead's broadbill (example pictured) resemble those of trogons, woodpeckers, and jays? (April 10)
... that the nests of Hose's broadbill have tails? (April 12)
... that butterflies of the genus Anaea (example pictured) are said to have "commanded the admiration of even the most gold-mad conquistadores"? (April 16)
... that despite being described in 1840, the chestnut-backed buttonquail was only confirmed in Queensland in 2020? (April 21)
... that a species in the genus of sponges Pseudoceratina produces a chemical that can help prevent migration of metastatic breast cancer cells? (April 22)
... that Ulmus chuchuanus had to be renamed due to another fossil already having its original name? (April 26)
... that a walrus was given his own pontoon to stop him damaging other boats in St Mary's Harbour? (April 27)
... that magnetoreception in birds works by quantum effects in their eyes? (April 28)

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter Issue 21

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August 2023—Issue 021

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Australiformis by Mattximus Rodrigues night heron by FunkMonk Titanis by Augustios Paleo List of lorisoids by PresN List of storks by AryKun Brontosaurus by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by The Morrison Man Eukaryote by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Fritzmann2002 Stramenopile by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Fritzmann2002 Titanoboa by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Antarctopelta by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Anna Blackburne by Kusma, reviewed by Etriusus Anomochilus leonardi by AryKun, reviewed by Amitchell125 Nyctibatrachus manalari by AryKun, reviewed by Sammi Brie Mimodactylus by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Nyctibatrachus major by AryKun, reviewed by Etriusus Anomochilus weberi by AryKun, reviewed by Etriusus Plant by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Cessaune

Newly nominated content
Ohmdenosaurus by Jens Lallensack Polar bear by LittleJerry Mimodactylus by FunkMonk List of cercopithecoids by PresN List of tapaculos by AryKun Klallamornis by Larrayal Hypericum perforatum by Fritzmann2002 Holozoa by Snoteleks Teloschistaceae by Esculenta Carcharodontosaurus by Augustios Paleo Nyctibatrachus radcliffei by AryKun Anomochilus by AryKun

New contest!

This month has seen an incredible amount of activity creating high quality content, with 3 FAs, 3 FACs, and a veritable flood of GAs and GANs, not to mention the FLs and FLCs. To help maintain this high level of activity going forward, WikiProject Tree of Life is starting a new monthly rolling contest, inspired by the contest run by WikiProject Military History. This contest should hopefully help incentivize editors to contribute in ways that are less daunting than writing articles that are GA and FA-quality. Even improving articles from stub to start class, or helping other editors by reviewing their work at GAN, FAC, or FLC, gets you points, with bonus points for articles with especially high page views. Make sure to participate in any way you can, and help improve the 'pedia while having fun and winning Barnstars!

August DYKs

Two salt marsh snakes

Blackburnian warbler

... that orcas have been teaching each other to attack boats? (August 2)
... that Ameles decolor has one of the most complex mating rituals of any praying mantis? (August 4)
... that salt marsh snakes (examples pictured) drink only rainwater? (August 6)
... that by 1967, staff at the Home Office were told not to feed Peta morsels of food as she had become "inordinately fat"? (August 8)
... that the perigynia of the few-flowered sedge spring outward when brushed against? (August 16)
... that three burnt golf balls are preserved at Kew Gardens as a "rare fungal species"? (August 19)
... that the chemicals responsible for the smell of freshly cut grass are a plant defense mechanism? (August 20)
... that the Blackburnian warbler (example pictured) is named after Anna Blackburne, who provided specimens to Thomas Pennant? (August 22)
... that Tylocephale possibly used their domed skulls to fight one another? (August 24)
... that John Cleese once called Olivia Benson "the weirdest cat I've ever seen in my life"? (August 25)
... that Winston Churchill was often portrayed as a bulldog (pictured), but his personal pet dog during the Second World War was a poodle? (August 25)
... that a report by the philosopher Jonathan Birch and colleagues led to cephalopods and decapods being recognised as sentient under the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act? (August 27)
... that Mike Wingfield named a fungus after his first grandchild, Rachel? (August 27)
... that depending on who you ask, an anomochilid could be a dwarf or a giant? (August 28)

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter Issue 22

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September 2023—Issue 022

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
List of cercopithecoids by PresN List of tapaculos by AryKun Polar bear by Little Jerry Ohmdenosaurus by Jens Lallensack Amargatitanis by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Teloschistaceae by Esculenta, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Holozoa by Snoteleks, reviewed by Esculenta Ashy flycatcher by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Nyctibatrachus radcliffei by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Carcharodontosaurus by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Life by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Apatosaurinae by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Hypericum perforatum by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by Femke

Newly nominated content
Mountain pigeon by AryKun List of hominoids by PresN List of cranes by AryKun List of tarsiiformes by PresN Lycorma meliae by Etriusus Aristonectes by Amirani1746 Animal echolocation by Chiswick Chap Hyalospheniidae by Snoteleks Buellia frigida by Snoteleks

Contest results

The first edition of our new monthly contest had perhaps a little less participation than I hoped for, but it still resulted in a huge amount of content work, mainly focussed on de-stubbing articles on little-known species, although we did also see two GAs for Holozoa and Hypericum perforatum. Overall, over 60 articles were improved, with most going from stubs or redlinks to fully fleshed out articles. The winner this month was Simongraham, who improved 21 articles about spiders, mainly to B and C class, and racked up 70 points, over twice the next highest. Hopefully, we'll continue to see such great work next month, with even more participants and even more articles improved.
Also anyone who wants to help coordinate the contest can just drop by at the talk page, I really need help.

September DYKs

Republicopteron douseae fossil

Male Phallichthys fish

Mimodactylus reconstruction

Adult ashy flycatcher

... that with all known Palaeorehniidae fossils (example pictured) being incomplete, the relationships of the family are uncertain? (September 2)
... that butterfly collector Ian Heslop was once required to supervise an execution? (September 3)
... that the Munich Mouser, Neville Chamberlain's pet, and Nelson, Winston Churchill's pet, had a rivalry during World War II? (September 6)
... that Phallichthys (literally 'penis fish') species are so called because the males (example pictured) have "comparatively huge" sex appendages? (September 8)
... that merry widows like soft bottoms? (September 10)
... that Mimodactylus (reconstruction pictured) is the first complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent? * ... that small Poecilia gillii males have longer sex organs than larger males, to facilitate mating with females that flee from them? (September 12)
... that the dwarf merry widow is not very brave? (September 13)
... that dwarf mollies hit rock bottom when they grow up? (September 14)
... that the Siberian crane is considered more threatened than the whooping crane, despite there being an estimated ten times more of them? (September 15)
... that one way to tell the African dusky flycatcher apart from the ashy flycatcher (example pictured) is that the former is "cuter"? (September 18)
... that the spiky inedible grass Triodia scintillans tastes like salt and vinegar chips? (September 19)
... that the bicolor molly inevitably goes off the deep end in adulthood? (September 27)
... that the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve is the only known nesting area for the eastern great egret in New Zealand? (September 28)

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter Issue 23

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October 2023—Issue 023

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Mimodactylus by FunkMonk Mountain pigeon by AryKun List of tarsiiformes by PresN List of hominoids by PresN List of cranes by AryKun Outline of lichens by MeegsC Lycorma meliae by Etriusus, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Oak by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Esculenta Animal echolocation by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Primium Elke Mackenzie by Esculenta, reviewed by Moriwen Dwarf pufferfish by Primium, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Hyalospheniidae by Snoteleks, reviewed by An anonymous username, not my real name Paroedura maingoka by Olmagon, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content
Hypericum sechmenii by Fritzmann2002 Teloschistaceae by Esculenta Nyctibatrachus major by AryKun List of sunbirds by AryKun List of platyrrhines by PresN Handicap principle by Chiswick Chap Slime mold by Chiswick Chap Punctelia by Esculenta Pulchrocladia retipora by Esculenta Anaptychia ciliaris by Esculenta Mocquard's Madagascar ground gecko by Olmagon Zavodovski Island by Jo-Jo Eumerus Chrysothrix chlorina by Esculenta Wood-pasture hypothesis by AndersenAnders Mammalian kidney by D6194c-1cc Lepas testudinata by Etriusus Teratoscincus roborowskii by Olmagon

Contest results

The second edition of our monthly contest was even better than the last month, with 80 articles improved spanning the entire tree of life. The winner this month was Quetzal1964, who contributed to 47 articles, mainly relating to marine fish, and racked up 81 points in the process. In second place was simongraham, who got 60 points from 14 articles on various species of jumping spiders. simongraham is still at the top of our overall standings, with 130 points, and Quetzal1964's close behind on 108. The November edition of the contest is now open: feel free to drop by and participate if you work on any TOL-related articles this month.

October DYKs

Illustration of swordtail mollies

Lycorma meliae

Illustrations of the front foot (A) and hind foot (B) of Diplobune quercyi

... that the Siberian columbine has been crossed with another species in the genus Aquilegia to determine the gene behind the genus's nectar spurs? (October 2)
... that the swordtail molly (examples pictured) and the Petén molly have been named and renamed so often, one even ending up with the other's name at one point, that the swordtail molly's current scientific name means 'confusion'? (October 8)
... that the early big cat Pachypanthera may have weighed as much as 142 kilograms (313 lb) and had teeth similar to a hyena's? (October 9)
... that ancient Greek philosopher Xenophon thought the alopekis was part dog, part fox? (October 11)
... that the katydid-like fossil Republicopteron douseae possibly could not sing? (October 12)
... that a Brontosaurus stamp led to the United States Postal Service being accused of "fostering scientific illiteracy"? (October 16)
... that the wings of Lycorma meliae (example pictured) undergo multiple color changes throughout their lives? (October 16)
... that the three-toed species of Diplobune (fossils pictured) were mammals of the order of "even-toed ungulates"? (October 17)
... that although fossils of the extinct mammal Asiavorator were first found in 1922, the genus was not named until 73 years later, in 1995? (October 18)
... that in aquariums, the humpbacked limia is known to cannibalise the young? (October 21)
... that Hypericum perforatum was a common component of classical cure-all concoctions called theriacs? (October 21)
... that Aristotle classified living things based on whether they had a "sensitive soul" or, like plants, only a "vegetative soul"? (October 22)
... that in June 2022, a neurosurgeon found a roundworm in someone's brain? (October 23)
... that ancient permafrost can preserve viable microorganisms, some of which contain antibiotic-resistance genes that may be transferred to modern bacteria? (October 27)

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter Issue 24

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November 2023—Issue 024

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Hypericum sechmenii by Fritzmann2002 Nyctibatrachus major by AryKun List of platyrrhines by PresN List of gymnosperm families by Dank Varroa destructor by KoA, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Lepas testudinata by Etriusus, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Island bronze-naped pigeon by AryKun, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Placidium arboreum by Esculenta, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Orange-billed lorikeet by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Spinular night frog by AryKun, reviewed by An anonymous username, not my real name Crested cuckoo-dove by AryKun, reviewed by Femke Aristonectes by Amirani1746, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Mocquard's Madagascar ground gecko by Olmagon, reviewed by Etriusus Femoral gland by Esculenta, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Ameerega munduruku by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Snowy plover by Jens Lallensack, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Crested cuckoo-dove by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Wood-pasture hypothesis by AndersenAnders, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Hypericum bupleuroides by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by Etriusus Teratoscincus roborowskii by Olmagon, reviewed by Esculenta Pulchrocladia retipora by Esculenta, reviewed by Etriusus Anaptychia ciliaris by Esculenta, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content
Snowy plover by Jens Lallensack List of birds of Bouvet Island by AryKun Laomaki by An anonymous username, not my real name Nyctibatrachus robinmoorei by AryKun Nyctibatrachus sabarimalai by AryKun Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi by AryKun Eucalyptus gomphocephala by Hughesdarren

Contest results

The third edition of our monthly contest saw Quetzal1964 win for the second month in a row, scoring 68 points from 39 articles about a variety of marine fishes. In second place for the month is Olmagon, who scored 45 points from 10 articles on extinct crustaceans and geckoes. In the overall standings, Quetzal1964 leapfrogged over simongraham into first place, with 176 points from 109 articles; simongraham is now in second place with 136 points from 37 articles. The December edition of the contest is now open: feel free to drop by and participate if you work on any TOL-related articles this month.

New newsletter!

Now, this newsletter is technically not new, but I have only recently become aware of its existence and am only a month late, so it still counts. Wikiproject Fungi's Lichen task force has a new newsletter that is very nicely formatted and also features much better writing than this newsletter. Anyone interested in receiving the newsletter can add their name here.

November DYKs

A bacterium that thrives in the deep ocean

Georges Cuvier's reconstruction of Anoplotherium commune

Paroedura maingoka

Field of Wyethia amplexicaulis in bloom

An adult dwarf pufferfish

Adult Balkan terrapin

Planocarina marginata, a hyalospheniid amoeba

... that a variety of the Connecticut field pumpkin is known as "the original commercial jack-o'-lantern pumpkin"? (November 1)
... that insects not only destroyed the personal plant collection of John Hunter Thomas, but also bear his name? (November 3)
... that life exists in every part of the biosphere, from the deepest parts of the ocean (bacterium pictured) to altitudes of up to 64 km (40 miles) in the atmosphere? (November 6)
... that Sivapardus was larger than a leopard, smaller than a lion, and had a face like a cheetah? (November 7)
... that Lillian V. Holdeman Moore identified a spike in hydrogen-gas-producing bacteria in Skylab astronauts? (November 8)
... that euglossine bees distribute the seeds of vanilla tlatepusco? (November 11)
... that in 1822, the Paleogene mammal Anoplotherium commune (reconstruction pictured) was the first fossil species to be subjected to a brain cast study? (November 12)
... that the island bronze-naped pigeon is a popular food at bars and parties on São Tomé? (November 12)
... that little pink elephants are parasitic? (November 12)
... that the gecko Paroedura maingoka (pictured) imitates venomous scorpions to discourage predators? (November 13)
... that the scenic fields of northern wyethia (pictured) found in the western United States are sometimes a sign that an area has been overgrazed? (November 15)
... that a 1950s album of frog calls developed a cult following? (November 15)
... that at a maximum standard length of roughly 2 cm (0.8 in), dwarf pufferfish are some of the smallest pufferfish in the world? (November 18)
... that the authors of The Neanderthals Rediscovered learned that their book proposal had been accepted on the same day they took their twin sons home from hospital? (November 20)
... that hatchling Balkan terrapins are only 3 to 4 centimetres (1.2 to 1.6 in) in length, while adults (example pictured) can grow as long as 25 cm (9.8 in)? (November 21)
... that organisms could harvest kinetic energy to survive? (November 22)
... that pollution in rivers scatters far-red light, making it harder for plants like Noveloa to germinate? (November 23)
... that many hyalospheniid amoebae (example pictured) construct shells by stealing mineralized particles from the shells of their prey? (November 28)
... that an ancient wildcat species is known only from a part of the jaw of a single animal discovered in Poland? (November 29)

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter Issue 25

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December 2023—Issue 025

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Snowy plover by Jens Lallensack Teloschistaceae by Esculenta List of birds of Bouvet Island by AryKun List of sunbirds by AryKun Slime mold by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Esculenta Handicap principle by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Etriusus Insect by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Iztwoz Wheat by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by KoA Eucalyptus gomphocephala by Hughesdarren, reviewed by Grungaloo Buellia frigida by Esculenta, reviewed by J Milburn Nyctibatrachus robinmoorei by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Nyctibatrachus sabarimalai by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Great cuckoo-dove by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Lake Patzcuaro salamander by Etriusus, reviewed by Grungaloo Anoplotherium by PrimalMustelid, reviewed by 20 upper

Newly nominated content
Alpine ibex by LittleJerry Pseudastacus by Olmagon Pachysentis by Mattximus List of primates by PresN Banded palm civet by Cremastra Perothops by Memer15151 Hypericum hircinum by Fritzmann2002 Boquila by Etriusus and Veridicae Aptostichus barackobamai by Etriusus Buffy-tufted marmoset by André Ribeiro Cardoso Ant mimicry by Chiswick Chap Mosquito by Chiswick Chap Anopheles by Chiswick Chap Rice by Chiswick Chap Pliosaurus andrewsi by Amirani1746 Triassosculda by Abdullah raji Flaco (owl) by Rhododendrites Crassispira incrassata by Etriusus Sei whale by 20 upper

Contest results

And so ends the fourth edition of the monthly rolling contest, as well as the 2023 Tree of Life Contest as a whole. This month saw simongraham win with a very impressive 120 points from 27 articles. Quetzal1964 was second with 74 points from 37 articles. The annual contest was a close race between simongraham and Quetzal1964; simongraham won first place with 256 points from 64 articles, and Quetzal1964 was second with 250 points from 146 articles. Snoteleks was third with 79 points from 33 articles. Congratulations to everyone who won this year and my gratitude to everyone else who helped raise the quality of articles in our little corner of Wikipedia this year. Additionally, a very Happy New Year to everyone in the project and here's looking forward to continuing our good work in 2024!

December DYKs

Snowy plover with chicks

Bofedales in the foreground

Adult female Varroa mite

Dennstaedtia christophelii fossil frond

... that a "bat ensnared by a plant" was discovered in the garden of the Palestine Museum of Natural History? (December 2)
... that female snowy plovers often abandon their families as soon as the chicks hatch? (December 4)
... that Lepas testudinata can form colonies of more than 1000 members at a time? (December 5)
... that the gecko Teratoscincus roborowskii eats caper fruits and disperses the plant's seeds in its feces? (December 5)
... that Henk Zwartepoorte quacked at caimans? (December 5)
... that the green colour of bofedales (examples pictured) stands out in the yellow surrounding landscape? (December 6)
... that Desulfovibrio vulgaris can remove toxic heavy metals from the environment? (December 8)
... that Varroa destructor (example pictured), the Varroa mite, is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on honey bees and is one of the most harmful honey-bee pests in the world? (December 11)
... that young orange-billed lorikeets are actually yellow-billed? (December 16)
... that stinking tutsan smells like goat? (December 20)
... that orange paintbrushes are guarded by rufous hummingbirds? (December 21)
... that the Antarctic lichen Buellia frigida has been to outer space? (December 22)
... that the closest modern fern relatives to Dennstaedtia christophelii (fossil pictured) of the Pacific Northwest are tropical species from South America? (December 24)
... that in Icelandic folklore, the Yule cat eats people who do not receive new clothing for Christmas? (December 25)
... that the Lake Patzcuaro salamander's native habitat is limited to a single lake in Mexico? (December 28)
... that plant species like Hypericum bupleuroides can reproduce by a callus? (December 29)

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter Issue 26

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WP:TOLN

January and February 2024—Issue 026

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Alpine ibex by LittleJerry Markham's storm petrel by FunkMonk, Jens Lallensack, and Therapyisgood List of primates by PresN List of birds of Alberta by grungaloo Rice by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by RecycledPixels Barley by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Bruxton Chicken by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by DocZach Cereal by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Bruxton Ant mimicry by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by AryKun Anopheles by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by AryKun Mosquito by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by 20 upper Cherry blossom by Reconrabbit, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Sei whale by 20 upper, reviewed by grungaloo Megaherbivore by 20 upper, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Brown bear by 20 upper, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Indian rhinoceros by 20 upper, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Hypericum hircinum by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by grungaloo Hypericum foliosum by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Hypericum grandifolium by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by Esculenta Boquila by Etriusus, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Aptostichus barackobamai by Etriusus, reviewed by Esculenta Crassispira incrassata by Etriusus, reviewed by 20 upper Punctelia by Esculenta, reviewed by Ealdgyth Chrysothrix chlorina by Esculenta, reviewed by Ealdgyth Chrysothrix chlorina by Esculenta, reviewed by Ealdgyth Ramalina peruviana by Esculenta, reviewed by Ealdgyth Menemerus animatus by simongraham, reviewed by Esculenta Afraflacilla braunsi by simongraham, reviewed by grungaloo Nasutoceratops by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Pseudastacus by Olmagon, reviewed by FunkMonk Angustidontus by Super Dromaeosaurus and Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Amitchell125 Pruemopterus by Super Dromaeosaurus and Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Etriusus Black-billed magpie by grungaloo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Black-capped chickadee by grungaloo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Horned sungem by Jens Lallensack, reviewed by grungaloo Flaco (owl) by Rhododendrites, reviewed by Etriusus Telonemia by Snotoleks, reviewed by Esculenta "Pliosaurus" andrewsi by Amirani1746, reviewed by grungaloo Beaver drop by Lightburst, reviewed by Chiswick Chap

Newly nominated content
Horned sungem by Jens Lallensack Tufted jay by grungaloo Nasutoceratops by FunkMonk Maize by Chiswick Chap Cattle by Chiswick Chap Pig by Chiswick Chap Domestic duck by Chiswick Chap Eusociality by Chiswick Chap Fish by Chiswick Chap Barnacle by Chiswick Chap Ochrophyte by Snotoleks Parvilucifera by Snotoleks Thalattoarchon by Amirani1746 Hydropunctaria amphibia by Esculenta Melanohalea by Esculenta Spot test (lichen) by Esculenta Lecideaceae by Esculenta Hypericum × inodorum by Fritzmann2002 Hypericum sect. Androsaemum by Fritzmann2002 Olga Hartman by Viriditas Mixtotherium by PrimalMustelid Enhydriodon by PrimalMustelid Lentinus brumalis by Зэгс ус

News at a glance

Our first double issue in almost four years, although we will try to return to a monthly schedule henceforth (incidentally, the last double issue saw Markham's storm petrel at GAN, and this one sees it finally pass FAC).
A highly competitive first round of the WikiCup sees four Tree of Life editors advance to the second round: MtBotany, Fritzmann2002, Ealdgyth, and AryKun
The March 2024 GAN Backlog Drive starts today; everyone is welcome to participate and help reduce the backlog of GANs.
The January edition of our monthly rolling contest was won by Quetzal1964 with 100 points from 40 articles, mainly related to various species of marine fish. simongraham was second with 80 points from 14 articles on jumping spiders.
The February edition saw Quetzal1964 win for the second time in a row, with 114 points from 43 articles. In second place was Snoteleks, with 21 points from 7 seven articles on various unicellular eukaryotes, including the GA Telonemia.

January DYKs

... that Dacrytherium, literally meaning 'tear beast', was named after its "tear-pit"? (3 January)
... that misidentifications of the crested cuckoo-dove have led to claims that the extinct Choiseul pigeon is still around? (4 January)
... that the wood-pasture hypothesis posits that semi-open wood pastures and not primeval forests are the natural vegetation of temperate Europe? (5 January)
... that until April 2023, when the genus Triassosculda was discovered, the mantis shrimp fossil record contained a gap of more than a hundred million years? (5 January)
... that although Olga Hartman believed that her basic research on marine worms had no practical value, it was applied to experimental studies of oysters? (6 January)
... that Oxford ivy grows towards the light to bloom and then towards the darkness when going to seed? (17 January)
... that S. F. Light (pictured) disliked using his full name? (20 January)
... that the fossil turtle Acherontemys was named for a "river of the fabled lower world"? (26 January)
... that a species of spider is named after Barack Obama? (27 January)
... that Boquila trifoliolata is the only known plant capable of simultaneously mimicking multiple species? (27 January)
... that Harpegnathos alperti worker ants have black heads and chocolate-colored mandibles? (28 January)
... that all known populations of Epipterygium opararense (example pictured) live within a 5-metre (16 ft) radius in New Zealand? (28 January)
... that female swamp guppies (pictured) show no preference for orange or red coloration during courtship? (29 January)

S. F. Light examining termites
Epipterygium opararense
Gold-morph swamp guppies

February DYKs

... that black-billed magpies are known to eat ticks off deer and other large mammals (example pictured)? (1 February)
... that scientist Adelaida K. Semesi was known as "mama mangroves" due to her specialist knowledge of their ecology? (2 February)
... that for the southern molly, sexual selection favors smaller males because they copulate by sneaking up to females? (2 February)
... that eyelash seaweed may have been made extinct by a single 2016 earthquake? (4 February)
... that conservation in Indonesia had little local support after independence because it was associated with the Dutch colonial period? (5 February)
... that the artiodactyl Ephelcomenus is thought to have been capable of burrowing? (6 February)
... that male mangrove mollies mate sneakily? (14 February)
... that barley was once used as a form of money? (14 February)
... it has been suggested that Crassispira incrassata may be a southern variation of Crassispira bottae and not its own species? (15 February)
... that the shining St John's wort owes its bright colors partly to carotenoid compounds? (18 February)
... that having lived in Central Park for more than a year after becoming homeless, Flaco (pictured) has been accused of being a peeping tom? (19 February)
... that the horned sungem (example pictured) is sometimes a nectar robber? (24 February)
... that the sea slug Bosellia mimetica benefits from photosynthesis? (25 February)
... that almost all members of a flock of tufted jays work together to build a nest? (28 February)
... that the hippocampus of the black-capped chickadee grows in the fall and shrinks in the spring? (29 February)
... that an Indian rhinoceros, sent as a gift to Pope Leo X in 1515, was immortalised as Dürer's Rhinoceros after dying in a shipwreck? (29 February)

Black-billed magpie eating ticks off the back of a cow
Flaco peeping through a window
Horned sungem robbing a flower

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WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter Issue 27

Latest comment: 6 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion

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WP:TOLN

March and April 2024—Issue 027

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Horned sungem by Jens Lallensack Tufted jay by grungaloo Pseudastacus by Olmagon List of erinaceids by PresN Primates by PresN Hypericum sect. Androsaemum by Fritzmann2002 Thalattoarchon by Amirani1746, reviewed by Esculenta Lentinus brumalis by Зэгс ус, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Hypericum sect. Androsaemum by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by Maxim Masiutin Hypericum × inodorum by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by AryKun Barnacle by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Lightburst Maize by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by AryKun Pig by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Wolverine XI Orange (fruit) by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by 750h+ Fish by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Reconrabbit Organism by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Esculenta Hydropunctaria amphibia by Esculenta, reviewed by AryKun Melanohalea by Esculenta, reviewed by AryKun Lecideaceae by Esculenta, reviewed by Wolverine XI Xylopsora canopeorum by Esculenta, reviewed by AryKun Spot test (lichen) by Esculenta, reviewed by AryKun Gustaf Einar Du Rietz by Esculenta, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Allocalicium by Esculenta, reviewed by Simongraham Multiclavula mucida by Esculenta, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Aphaena submaculata by Etriusus, reviewed by Wolverine XI White-tailed jay by Grungaloo, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Fork-tailed drongo by The Blue Rider, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Northern green anaconda by Chaotic Enby, reviewed by Geardona Heptamegacanthus by Mattximus, reviewed by Esculenta Mixtotherium by PrimalMustelid, reviewed by FunkMonk Diplobune by PrimalMustelid, reviewed by Wolverine XI Ochrophyte by Snoteleks, reviewed by Ealdgyth Parvilucifera by Snoteleks, reviewed by Fritzmann2002 Urceolus by Snoteleks, reviewed by Fritzmann2002 Plexippoides regius by Simongraham, reviewed by Grungaloo Olga Hartman by Viriditas, reviewed by Lightburst Giant panda by Wolverine XI, reviewed by Thebiguglyalien Enchylium conglomeratum by Xkalponik, reviewed by Wolverine XI

Newly nominated content
Great cuckoo-dove by AryKun Heptamegacanthus by Mattximus List of talpids by PresN List of birds of New Brunswick by B3251 List of forest-inventory conifers in Canada by Dank Dissoderma odoratum by NotAGenious Xiphodon by PrimalMustelid Banana by Chiswick Chap Phintella parva by Simongraham Evarcha maculata by Simongraham Asian elephant by Wolverine XI Megafauna by Wolverine XI Fishing cat by Wolverine XI Thistle tortoise beetle by Justinxuje Enchylium limosum by Xkalponik Enchylium polycarpon by Xkalponik Skeleton panda sea squirt by Chaotic Enby Hypericum aciferum by Fritzmann2002 Hypericum russeggeri by Fritzmann2002 Hypericum minutum by Fritzmann2002 Chrompodellid by Snoteleks Aquilegia sibirica by Pbritti Carabus japonicus by NHanselman Charles De Geer by Yakikaki Cheetah reintroduction in India by Magentic Manifestations

News at a glance

The newsletter will not be returning to a monthly format (mainly because the author is busy failing every exam imaginable) and is on a bimonthly schedule for the foreseeable future.
The second round of the WikiCup was very competitive, requiring the highest points total to advance since 2014. Two TOL editors, AryKun and Fritzmann2002, advanced to the third round.
The March edition of our monthly rolling contest was won by simongraham, who amassed 118 points from 21 articles on various species of jumping spider; in second place was Quetzal1964 with 109 points from 53 articles on marine ray-finned fish.
Quetzal1964 and simongraham were also the top two in the April edition, although Quetzal was ahead this time, with 68 points to simongraham's 48. In the annual leaderboard, Quetzal and simongraham are in first and second place respectively, with 291 and 246 points; in third place is Snotoleks, with 76 points.

March DYKs

... that an Indian rhinoceros, sent as a gift to Pope Leo X in 1515, was immortalised as Dürer's Rhinoceros after dying in a shipwreck? (1 March)
... that due to a misunderstanding, Catodontherium was moved from its original genus name? (3 March)
... that a malaria-control program in rural Brazil attracted droves of annoying, colorful bees that collect pesticide (example pictured) into homes? (4 March)
... that popular garden plants like malfurada often escape from cultivation and become invasive? (5 March)
... that the cherry blossom was used symbolically in Japanese World War II propaganda, with falling petals representing "young soldiers' sacrifice for the emperor"? (8 March)
... that off-roading at Muriwai Beach in New Zealand may be damaging the habitat of the newly described korowai gecko (example pictured)? (9 March)
... that Will Smith took part in the expedition that discovered the northern green anaconda? (13 March)
... that the Kīlauea lava cricket disappears from a lava field as soon as any plants start to grow there? (13 March)
... that Julian Assange's lawyer argued that the rules set by the Ecuadorian embassy requiring Assange to take care of his pet cat Michi were "denigrating"? (13 March)
... that mule deer sometimes prefer the flavor of one Rocky Mountain juniper tree, like "ice cream", over another? (21 March)
... that the skeleton panda sea squirt was known on the Internet for its skeleton-like appearance years before its formal description? (26 March)
... that only one fruit but several thousand seeds were known when Allenbya collinsonae was named? (26 March)
... that while named for alliums, the fossil Paleoallium (pictured) was not necessarily directly related to any allium species? (27 March)
... that the extinct genus Mixtotherium, meaning 'mixed beast', has traits of both extinct primates and hyraxes? (28 March)
... that the fossil fern Dickwhitea was described from a single block of chert? (28 March)
... that Scytalopus krabbei is named after Niels Krabbe, who discovered seven other species in its genus? (29 March)
... that Institutiones rei herbariae, published in 1700, sought to give a unique name to every plant based on their "essence"? (29 March)
... that in some rare cases, large Siberian tigers prey on adult brown bears? (30 March)
... that only six years after its 2016 discovery, the Meratus blue flycatcher (pictured) was found being sold in Indonesian songbird markets? (30 March)
... that the spirit liverwort is called such because of its proximity to the Māori afterlife? (31 March)
... that cultures of the fungus Lentinus brumalis have been flown on three different satellites? (31 March)
... that the English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper claimed that eating alkanet leaves would make a person's spit deadly to serpents? (31 March)

Eufriesea purpurata
Korowai gecko
Paleoallium billgenseli fossil
Male Meratus blue flycatcher

April DYKs

... that despite its name meaning 'unscented', Hypericum × inodorum can smell strongly of goat? (1 April)
... that color-changing cats (artist's impression pictured) could help us communicate with the future? (2 April)
... that Pep the dog was falsely accused of murdering a cat and sent to Eastern State Penitentiary? (2 April)
... that an extinct French scarab beetle was discovered in a Prague factory? (3 April)
... that the white-tailed jay (example pictured) found in Ecuador and Peru was once thought to have been brought to Mexico by pre-Columbian trade? (5 April)
... that saving the Guadalupe cypress included the help of 40 Judas goats? (5 April)
... that the fork-tailed drongo gives genuine alarm calls but will sometimes lie to steal food from other animals? (5 April)
... that Bangiales, an order of red algae, contains both the oldest-known sexually reproducing organism and the seaweed used to make sushi wrappers? (7 April)
... that beavers, mules, and dogs have been parachuted from airplanes? (8 April)
... that Aphaena submaculata (pictured) uses specialized mouthparts to suck the sap of trees? (8 April)
... that female Eriopis connexa beetles prevent sibling cannibalism by laying unfertilized eggs? (9 April)
... that Androsaemum androsaemum is botanically unacceptable, but Aniculus aniculus is perfectly valid? (9 April)
... that there is one male for every 31 females in an E. interjectus colony, and each female can start its own colony? (10 April)
... that the first extant deer discovered in the 21st century is only 38 centimetres (15 in) tall? (10 April)
... that Buellia aethalea, a species of fungus, is also known as the "darkened button lichen" due to the small black spots on its crusty grey surface? (14 April)
... that despite commonly being caught with a hook and line, the holotype of the Rapa Nui lizardfish was instead collected with a spear? (14 April)
... that ochrophyte algae have twice as many membranes around their chloroplasts as plants? (16 April)
... that while the lichen species Enchylium conglomeratum is considered secure globally, it has been designated as extinct in the UK and regionally extinct in Switzerland? (18 April)
... that Cladonota's extravagant dorsal structures have been called both "grotesque" and "particularly charismatic"? (19 April)
... that the damselfly-relative Okanagrion is suggested to have eight species due to both alpha and beta diversity drivers? (21 April)
... that trees of the extinct genus Calamophyton (example pictured) formed the earliest known forest? (22 April)
... that the color of a black-headed tailorbird's throat was thought to depend on sex, but later turned out to depend on age? (23 April)
... that Biodiversity Impact Credits seek to stop species extinction? (30 April)

Artist's impression of a ray cat
White-tailed jay
Aphaena submaculata
Calamophyton tree

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Add topic

[1] Kumar, Srijan; West, Robert; Leskovec, Jure (April 2016). "Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes" (PDF). Proceedings of the 25th International World Wide Web Conference: 591–602. doi:10.1145/2872427.2883085.

[2] Kumar, Srijan; West, Robert; Leskovec, Jure (April 2016). "Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes" (PDF). Proceedings of the 25th International World Wide Web Conference: 591–602. doi:10.1145/2872427.2883085.

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