User talk:Jens Lallensack/Archive 1

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Parasaurolophus_crest_interior.jpg

Hi, I'm from the German Wikipedia. I like to use this Parasaurolophus picture for our Parasaurolophus article in the German Wikipedia (that is mostly a translation from the english one). I want to ask if I could upload it and the image description into the Wikimedia Commons? Thank you, --Jens Lallensack 22:13, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi Jens!

It looks to be in the public domain (U.S. government image). You don't need my permission to upload a public domain image, but you're welcome to upload it. :) Firsfron of Ronchester 10:09, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Massospondylus

Hi Firsfron! I would like to update certain aspects in the Massospondylus article, if I'm allowed to. May I ask you to take a look for grammar and revert everything you are not happy about? Thanks, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:14, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Hi Jens,

You're absolutely welcome to do so! And I'd be glad to look over the grammar... I'm sure a few others are watching the article, too. Best, Firsfron of Ronchester 15:30, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

I saw this because I have Firsfron's talkpage watchlisted, nice work! Fun to see that eve a featured article can be expanded that much. And I don't think you have to worry about "blowing it up", Tyrannosaurus is twice as long. So if you have more to add, please do. FunkMonk (talk) 14:50, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! Ok, I will try, but I would have to add a "Posture and gait" section. If the changes are not as optimal, please dont hesistate to revert it or to tell me. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 16:09, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

I haven't reviewed all the changes (too late tonight), but what I've seen looks really good. Thanks for your work, Jens (and FM!) Firsfron of Ronchester 04:43, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

Carnotaurus

Hey Jens,

Just wanted to say thank you for all your work on Carnotaurus. I haven't even actually gotten around to reviewing the edits on Massospondylus (but I hope to soon). I don't have a lot of access to the papers in question, but will try to go through the articles as best as possible. Thanks again. Firsfron of Ronchester 05:57, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey Firsfron, I'm glad that I could help. I'm not ready with Carnotaurus yet, the expansion of the paleobiology section I'm currently working on is a bit tricky. Concerning Massospondylus Papers, no problem! Just wikimail me your e-mail-address. Best, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:23, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Carnotaurus

The article Carnotaurus you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold . The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needed to be addressed. If these are fixed within 14 days, the article will pass, otherwise it will fail. See Talk:Carnotaurus for things which need to be addressed. Zad68 17:17, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

Let me know when you're done

Hi Jens, let me know when you're done working on Carnotaurus and I'll update the status of the GA items. I expect that on my next look-through, all the GA boxes will be checked, and then I'll get someone to help me look it over before passing. Zad68 16:10, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

I reviewed your latest updates, there is one last tiny issue, a "However" you can just delete, and we're done. I'll ask for that experienced reviewer to check it. Zad68 18:37, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Carnotaurus

The article Carnotaurus you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Carnotaurus for comments about the article. Well done! Zad68 21:16, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Congratulations, Jens! And thanks for all your work on this article. :) Firsfron of Ronchester 05:45, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

"smart quotes"

Hi Jens, I've noticed some of your content contains "smart quotes" or apostrophes instead of straight quotes. Can you explain why? Thanks... Zad68 14:46, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Hi Zad68, I'm sorry. I just didn't know that smart quotes are unwanted. Will not use them again. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:52, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

That is right, smart quotes are not used, per WP:MOS. But my question really was--how did you get them into the article content in the first place? Zad68 20:55, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Which article do you mean? I do not know what your driving at. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:08, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

(Let's keep this whole conversation here, I am watching your Talk page.) On Carnotaurus. Here is what I am driving at: I ran across your use of smart quotes in the article when I reviewed it. I am now worrying that you copied and pasted a word processor document into the article, which would explain the smart quotes. Most people who compose an article in the Wikipedia editor do not use smart quotes because they're very hard to enter--most people just use the straight quotes and apostrophes. I am worried that because the smart quotes indicate that the content may have been copied in from a word processor document that there are copyright issues. Can you comment on that? I just want to be sure... Zad68 21:12, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I'm at a loss. I still can't find any sentence in that article containing smart quotes or apostrophes? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:22, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

that's because I took them out!  :) Just asking how they got in there... Zad68 21:31, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I think there should not be any apostrophs or smart quotes. I can't remember putting them in there manually (its not as complicated, though, since we have the new editor (go "special characters" -> "symbols")). I still can't find them, even in older versions. These are your changes. Have I missed something? Please help me with a diff or something like that. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:41, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I don't see any smart quotes in the material (either the revised version or the version submitted to WP:GAN. I'm puzzled by the worry that any material was copied and pasted from anything; Jens is the author of German Wikipedia's article on Carnotaurus, which he built very slowly between March 7th and May 7th, 2012. Further, use of non-standard keys would almost be expected on a non-English keyboard. As Jens is obviously German, with a history of edits to the German Wikipedia since August 2005, your worry is misplaced. Firsfron of Ronchester 06:33, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

OK sorry folks, my concern is unfounded, just ignore me... Zad68 13:52, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Some baklava for you!

Thanks for completing your first GA review--your work to keep Wikipedia running is much appreciated! -- Khazar2 (talk) 13:24, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Our Collaboration on Vulcanodon

Hi Jens, Our little collaboration paid off. Vulcanodon is now a G article. Nice work. If you ever have another collaboration you want done post a message on my talk page and I'll see how I can help. Reid,iain james (talk) 15:55, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Here's a userbox for you:

Code	Result
{{User:Reid,iain james/Userboxes/Vulcanodon}}	This user helped make Vulcanodon a Article	Usage

Reid,iain james (talk) 20:27, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Thank you, Reid,iain :) I'm glad that our collaboration worked so well. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:54, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Your welcome. Any other pages you want a collaboration on? Reid,iain james (talk) 16:07, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Also, if there are any specific userboxes you want see here and they can be made specially for you. Reid,iain james (talk) 21:42, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Milky Way as GA

Thanks for your hard work for making the Milky Way a good article. You have done a great job. Megahmad (talk) 19:47, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Vulcanodon location map, southern Africa

Hi, I replied to your request at the Map workshop. (and congratulations on the GA...) Begoon ^talk 12:12, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

Cetiosauriscus

Hi Jens, I thank you for taking up the review. Could you give me the information from Gluts encyclopedia and the first reference you noted on the GA review page? There is one question I have to ask, why did you quickfail it? I have fixed most of the comments accept for the ones involving the references. Thanks anyway. Iainstein (talk) 14:11, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Reid,iain james, please send me a wikimail with your mail address, I will send you the sources then. I will help getting the article in good shape as time allows. So, why I have quickfailed it … I have only mentioned the most important points in the review. Most serious, a lot of the citations are fake. Reviewers feel be taken on a ride when being confronted with an article like this. Better no sources than faked ones. The article is full with this, here is another one: Cetiosauriscus was a relatively small quadrupedal herbivorous sauropod. It is estimated that Cetiosauriscus stood six meters high and was fifteen meters in length, weighing about nine tonnes.[1] I have read the source (Charig 1993), this information is not given in this source.

According to Good article criteria, a good article has to be 1) well written, 2) verifiable, 3) Broad in its coverage, 4) neutral, 5) stable and 6) illustrated. No problem with points 4 to 6. But the article is not well written, as for example Cetiosauriscus is diagnosed by axially concave summits on the cranial and middle caudal neural spines. is a copy and paste from "The Dinosauria 2004". This is very serious, the "GA criteria" states that "If copyright infringements are found in a nominated article then it can be failed without further review". Also, it is not verifiable because of all the faked sources. It is not broad in its coverage as I pointed out in the review. The section "Description", for example, is very weak. Important information is missing (e.g., from which formation do the fossils come from?). --Jens Lallensack (talk) 14:48, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for illustrating your points. How do you wikimail? Iainstein (talk) 14:07, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

• Just to chime in, it is very hard to get an article up and running that hasn't mainly been written by oneself, and near impossible if one hasn't checked all the sources used for factuality. I'd suggest writing articles from scratch in the future, or work on taxa with little text in their articles to begin with. For example, though it looks pretty good on the surface, I've pretty much given up on Rodrigues Starling for now, because there is too much stuff I can't verify, and too much stuff that may be from sources that have nothing to do with the bird. FunkMonk (talk) 14:13, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Hey Reid,iain james, I have just uploaded the sources, see ([1]). (you would have to click on "toolbox" -> "Email this user" for wikimail). My words above may have been to hard, please note that I meant no offence but only wanted to explain why this article does not meat the GA criteria. FunkMonk is absolutely right, and besides, this genus is difficult to write about because there is no comprehensive modern revision. We have to fetch information from both newer and very old sources while being very careful with the latter. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:39, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Thanks Jens. Could you go through the article now that I have comprehended the comments. I am not sure what to add from "Gluts Encyclopedia" or what I got from "The Relationships of Cetiosauriscus stewarti (Dinosauria; Sauropoda): implications for sauropod phylogeny". Iainstein (talk) 22:45, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I hope I will have time this weekend. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 05:54, 18 October 2013 (UTC)

Carnotaurus for FA?

You did some great work getting Carnotaurus to GA, have you considered getting it to featured article status? From what I can see, it's pretty close. FunkMonk (talk) 20:39, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Hi FunkMonk! Yes, I definitely had planned to submit it as a FAC. In my opinion it is complete. While it is short, there aren't any more points to add, so its coverage is as broad as it could be. To expand it we would have to into greater detail, but I think this way it is more reader friendly. I'm not sure if the language and prose is sufficient, though, I have not the abilities to evaluate and improve that. And I still think about removing the whole "In popular culture" section. The problem is, there are not enough sources to cover that topic completely. I fear that some of the books used in this section are self-published ones, but I was not able to find that information in any other sources. What do you think? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 07:55, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

I think you could remove the pop section entirely. And I don't think it would be a problem to add more technical stuff to it, for example in the two last dinosaur articles I worked on, we just crammed as much into them as we could. I'll read through the Carnotaurus article and see if I find some problems. FunkMonk (talk) 17:45, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Great, thank you! I will do my best fixing all the issues if may find. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:33, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Just want to voice my support for taking this to FAC! It was the first GA review I had ever done and so I have special feelings for it. Please do let me know if it goes, I'd love to help support. Zad68 15:36, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Cool, I'll put a few thoughts down here as I go along, kind of like a second GA review. FunkMonk (talk) 18:43, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

• Does the intro really need a source for a very uncontroversial statement?

fixed

• Maybe "exceptionally well preserved" is a tad too hyperbolic? Well preserved would be enough.

fixed

• "As a theropod, Carnotaurus was highly specialized and distinctive. Besides having thick horns above the eyes, a feature unseen in all other carnivorous dinosaurs, a very deep skull sitting on a muscular neck characterized Carnotaurus as did small and possibly functionless forelimbs, and long and slender hindlimbs." Maybe when it was first discovered, but these features are now known to be common to all abelisaurs.

well … most of these features are not autapomorphies. But the skull was shorter, the neck more muscular, and the forelimbs shorter than in any other abelisaurid. While Majungasaurus had very short hind limbs, some other abelisaurs such as Aucasaurus may also had had long hindlimbs.

• "Skin impressions that were preserved with the single skeleton" We already know there is a single skeleton, so it redundant to mention it more than once.

fixed

• "rather than being covered by feathers." Do any of the sources even mention feathers specifically?

yes, you can find a citation in the "skin" section.

• "nasal bones were sculptured" Seems a bit weird for something natural.

This is the official technical term. It is also used to describe the rough skull surface of crocodiles and temnospondyles, and is even used to describe molluscs (Sculpture (mollusc)).

• "today's emus and kiwis, which also have functionless forelimbs" Both have claws on the wings, and I've read the latter can use them to scratch themselves, so I'm not sure if they're entirely functionless? FunkMonk (talk) 20:07, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

The source says: The part of the spinal cord that supplies innervation to the forelimb is reduced to the degree seen in emus and kiwis (quantified in Giffin, 1995), which have vestigial forelimbs that are not used even for display and hang uselessly at their sides (Davies, 2002). It is based on Davies, S.J.J.F. (2002). Ratites and tinamous. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Shall we write "almost functionless" instead?

• "Originally, the right side of the skull was also covered with several fragments of skin – this was not recognized when the skull was prepared, and these fragments were accidentally destroyed." How was it known, then?

I do not now exactly, the sources are a bit vague. I think they have found small pieces of skin after the preparation that were to small to reveal any information.

• "Scalation was similar in different body parts with the exception of the head, which apparently showed a different, irregular pattern of scales." How is this known, if the part about descruction is correct?

fixed, I added another sentence.

• "Uniquely for theropods, there were large knob-like bumps running along the sides of neck, back and tail in irregular rows." Didn't Ceratosaurus have something similar?

No, in Ceratosaurus these are osteoderms (bones, not scales).

• "and are only 72 to 69.9 million years old" "Only" is so relative here that it doesn't make sense.

fixed

• "Carnotaurus is the only known carnivorous dinosaur with a pair of horns on the frontal bone." Perhaps mention (if stated in source) that horns are known in other theropods, just mainly placed on the lacrymal?

I think those lacrymal horns are different because they are not directed laterodorsally as in Carnotaurus. I have modified the sentence a bit though.

• "Analysis of the jaw design of Carnotaurus" Again, weird word for a natural object.

Well, you will be shocked: [2]. I do not know a better word that is as precise.

Thanks for all those comments! I hope I have sufficiently resolved or answered all of them. Anything else? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:16, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

Looking good! If you write "almost functionless" or something like that for the arms, that would be nice. Source wise, there should be consistency on whether you write full first names, or only initial. And if anything can be expanded and elaborated, that wouldn't hurt! The intro could be expanded a bit, it should summarise the entire article. FunkMonk (talk) 23:58, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

I have expanded the lead a bit, and added a few things I intentionally had left out before because I don't wanted to make things overly complicated. However, now I think its much better to have these things included :) I don't have any more ideas what to add; shall we submit it now? Could you please check the recent additions for grammar? Thanks, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 13:09, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

I'm not much of a word smith myself, so maybe we could ask someone for a copyedit? And you should still make the citation style consistent, either have all first names, or only initials, not a mix. But yeah, I think it's ready then! FunkMonk (talk) 23:36, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

The citation style is fixed now (I hope). --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:24, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

Ready for action! By the way, I think the term vestigial should be mentioned and linked in relation to the arms. "Functionless" and other words of that sort don't really do it justice. FunkMonk (talk) 22:49, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

Finally it is submitted! Sorry for the delay, the past weeks I hadn't had any time. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 18:42, 16 December 2013 (UTC)

Nice! But remember, these day the process can take months... FunkMonk (talk) 13:08, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

• Seems the FAC is going very well, hope it'll encourage you to take on more FAs! I'm sadly too busy to do so myself at the moment, but I'm happy to help out. FunkMonk (talk) 21:19, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! Yes, I still have to translate some more stuff I have once written for the German Wikipedia. We may even get Opisthocoelicauda to this level, I hope I will have time soon to work on it. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 12:56, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Cool, I see there's no life restoration for that one. Coincidentally, I am currently working on a dinosaur design project for school, and I will have to draw a lot of titanosaurs and other animals in different styles to find out how I'm going to execute the project. So some of these "experiments" I'll donate to Wikipedia. So if you have some wishes for how I should draw Opisthocoelicaudia for the article, both pose and style wise, feel free to suggest here, then I'll give it a try. FunkMonk (talk) 22:12, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Wow, that would be absolutely great if you would draw a life reconstruction! Please see here ([3], Fig. 6 in the paper) for the most recent published skeletal reconstruction. And good luck with your project, that sounds interesting! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 17:38, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the paper! What do you think the skull should be based on? Gregory S. Paul speculated the skull of Nemegtosaurus may belong to it... FunkMonk (talk) 17:47, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

There are only very few titanosaur skulls known. Opisthocoelicaudia may be closely related to Alamosaurus, but no skull is known for this genus. I would definitely use the Nemegtosaurus skull. This is a problem with the Opisthocoelicaudia article: One new fossil discovery showing that the Nemegtosaurus skull belongs to the Opisthocoelicaudia postcranium, and we have to rename the article because the name Nemegtosaurus has priority. Would be a shame since the name Opisthocoelicaudia is way cooler. This has not happen since O. was described in 1977, but still … at least we would not have to redraw the life reconstruction ;) --Jens Lallensack (talk) 18:05, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Will do! Any colour scheme or pose you would prefer? FunkMonk (talk) 18:11, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

No preferences :) --Jens Lallensack (talk) 18:24, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Just to comment, right now O. is considered to be an antarctosaurid, and I think at least 1 antarctosaurid (maybe Isisaurus) is known from skull material. That might be a good thing to note when you make the illustration. Iainstein (talk) 01:55, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Well, Antarctosauridae is a taxon considered valid only by very few people. Just do a Google Scholar search after "Antarctosauridae" and see how many papers it findes containing this word (only two!). Nevertheless, when a paper has suggested Opisthocoelicaudia to be an antarctosaurid we may should add this info to the article; do you remember which paper? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 08:06, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

The only problem with the paper is, it doesn't actually say "Antarctosauridae". As defined, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036907 has Opisthocoelicaudia placed in Antarctosauridae. Fig. 1 is a cladogram, one of which I added to Ampelosaurus, and places O. in a clade with Isisaurus, Antarctosaurus, Argentinosaurus, and Alamosaurus. Holtz's appendix also places O. in antarctosauridae, but does not really give any information about it. Iainstein (talk) 16:15, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

This phylogeny is based on Curry Rogers 2005, and she named this node Opisthocoelicaudiinae (Alamosaurus + Isisaurus + Opisthocoelicaudia). No skull material is known for Isisaurus as far as I know, and the position of Antarctosaurus itself (the only one known from skull bones) is very unsure. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 16:33, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

• Added a sketch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Dinosaurs/Image_review#Opisthocoelicaudia FunkMonk (talk) 21:54, 25 February 2014 (UTC)
• Is this free image[4] perhaps of the holotype? It is unlabelled, but I uploaded it here.[5] It is on a weird travelling exhibit that never seems to end, which makes many important specimens unavailable for study. I saw some of it in 1998. FunkMonk (talk) 21:20, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Ampelosaurus images

Hi Jens, I realized that Ampelosaurus has many spaces with few or no images. Would it be possible for you to upload your images, except for the models, so I can add them to the article? Thanks in advance. Iainstein (talk) 23:31, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	Congratulations on your FA for Carnotaurus! I'm happy to have helped it along and hope to see more great Dino FAs in the future! :) Zad68 07:08, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Thank you!! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 17:19, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Dino star

		The Dinosaur Barnstar
		In addition to the work on Carnotaurus, you deserve a dino-specific star for all the work you've done on many other hitherto neglected dinosaur articles! FunkMonk (talk) 17:35, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

This one looks cool :) Many thanks! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 17:43, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Kentrosaurus GA

Hello, would you be able to review Kentrosaurus? LittleJerry (talk) 02:02, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Hi LittleJerry, I wish I could, but unfortunately I have absolutely no time at all … I will not be able to do anything in Wikipedia until mid august. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:18, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Glut

Hi, some rather interesting bits you're adding to Ankylosaurus, left me wondering about that Glut book. Does it generally go into detail about popular depictions of various dinosaurs? FunkMonk (talk) 03:26, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi FunkMonk! Yes, it often contains some interesting details about popular depictions. It is also quite helpful to find additional (older) sources. For example, it says that this article here (http://rmg.geoscienceworld.org/content/20/2/123.short) contains information on teeth referred to "baby" Ankylosaurus magniventris, with implications on feeding. Would be worth to add that; I will do a resource request. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 14:45, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, responded per email. Also wondering what those baby teeth are, and why they're not mentioned in the 2004 Carpenter paper...FunkMonk (talk) 16:10, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Amargasaurus

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Amargasaurus you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of IJReid -- IJReid (talk) 20:20, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Amargasaurus

The article Amargasaurus you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Amargasaurus for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of IJReid -- IJReid (talk) 14:01, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

barnstar

		The Diligent Librarian Barnstar
		For exemplary service at the Resource Exchange, tirelessly delivering the reliable sources on which this encyclopedia depends, please accept this award.LavaBaron (talk) 17:18, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Hi LavaBaron, thank you so much for the award, I'm very happy about it! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:33, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

Apatosaurs FA

Hi, would you be able to review Apatosaurus? LittleJerry (talk) 00:59, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I wanted to do this days ago, but I'm currently short on time. I should be able to finish a review the next few days. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 05:11, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Thank you. LittleJerry (talk) 11:20, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Heterodontosaurus

Hi, I was going to expand Heterodontosaurus, but just saw that you had taken the German version to FAC. So I was wondering whether you would collaborate on it? In any case, I think I'll draw a new restoration of it which will probably benefit from your comments... FunkMonk (talk) 18:42, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

Hi FunkMonk, yes, that would certainly be the most efficient. What is your plan? Shall I translate parts of the German article? Looking forward to your new drawing! Have to read your new Baryonyx article few days. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:32, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

I was originally going to write it all from scratch, but if there are any sections you would like to translate, it would of course be very helpful! Usually when I've collaborated with someone, we divided sections between us. Anything you'd like to write in particular? I usually find history and classification interesting. FunkMonk (talk) 21:48, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

If this is ok, I could do the "description" part, for a start. And perhaps parts of the paleobiology, some of that stuff took me quite some time, I remember. Lets see. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 22:05, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

Sounds good! And there's no rush. FunkMonk (talk) 22:44, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

• By the way, this has a paper on Carnotaurus on page 11 not yet cited in the article you wrote: http://www.cimne.com/iacm/News/Expressions%2026.pdf It was just mentioned on the Dinosaur Mailing List. FunkMonk (talk) 05:19, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

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A Dobos torte for you!

7&6=thirteen (☎) has given you a Dobos torte to enjoy! Seven layers of fun because you deserve it. To give a Dobos torte and spread the WikiLove, just place {{subst:Dobos Torte}} on someone else's talkpage, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.

7&6=thirteen (☎) 21:42, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Cool, thank you very much, 7&6=thirteen! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 22:11, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Thanks!

Thank you For taking up the GA review of Bluebuck. I and FunkMonk were sure no one would pick it up for months, as we two are the main reviewers at Biology GAN and neither could take this up. In fact we were preparing to hibernate :P But you came as the savior! Sainsf (talk · contribs) 13:08, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

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Amargasaurus

Congrats on the FA! I got to see a skeleton cast of this in person recently; it's an interesting critter. --RL0919 (talk) 01:09, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 05:48, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, good work, we want more! FunkMonk (talk) 10:06, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Carnotaurus scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that the Carnotaurus article has been scheduled as today's featured article for 25 April 2017. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 25, 2017. Thanks! Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 22:27, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Carnotaurus is now going to be featured on the main page on 22 April; had to do a last minute reschedule and as a result this has moved up. The new link for the main page text is Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 22, 2017. Thanks -- Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 22:06, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Precious

Carnotaurus and other 'saurs

Thank you for quality articles such as Carnotaurus, Amargasaurus, Opisthocoelicaudia and Heterodontosaurus, open to collaboration, for FA and GA reviewing, for clear edit summaries, for your modest user page, - Jens, you are an awesome Wikipedian!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:56, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Dear Gerda Arendt, thank you so much!! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:02, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

A year ago, you were recipient no. 1641 of Precious, a prize of QAI! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 04:37, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Thank you for your share to Heterodontosaurus, "a small dinosaur which became quite important to the study of dinosaur evolution upon its discovery. It is notable for its eponymous teeth and primitive features, and for being the basis of a family of dinosaurs."! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:35, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

Today, thank you for your share of Brachiosaurus, "one of the most iconic dinosaurs"! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:27, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Many thanks! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 11:35, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

... and today, Ceratosaurus, a "large meat-eater with nose horn"! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:20, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

Thank you again! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 07:48, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

Two years now! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:23, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Thank you today for Trachodon mummy, "one of the most important dinosaur specimens ever found, had profound impact on the understanding of dinosaurs. The Trachodon mummy is one of a handfull of "dinosaur mummies", and is interpreted as the fossil of a natural mummy. The article combines history with cutting edge scientific research, and therefore is hopefully of interest for a broader audience."! - Yes, of interest ;) - I have a PR open, DYK? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:30, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Today, thank you for you work on Spinophorosaurus, "a long-necked dinosaur which is notable for bearing spikes on its tail, and in being one of the most completely known members of its group from its time and place. We have summarised all available sources, including a German book about the expeditions that found the fossils, and the article therefore has a detailed and rather dramatic account of the discovery"! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:52, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 08:06, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Three years now! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:14, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you today for Opisthocoelicaudia, about "an interesting long-necked dinosaur from Mongolia, and a recent effort of the WP:WikiProject Dinosaurs"! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:59, 18 September 2020 (UTC)

... and today for your share to Limusaurus, introduced: "This little dinosaur may seem inconspicuous, but there are many interesting aspects to it. All known specimens were found stuck in what appears to have been mud pits formed by the footprints of giant dinosaurs (which gave it its name). while it had teeth when juvenile, these were entirely lost as it grew up, a feature only known from a few other animals. Adults appear to have been herbivorous, though it belonged in a group of otherwise carnivorous dinosaurs. In addition, its unusual hands were also thought to have implications for bird evolution, but this idea has fallen out of favour."! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:42, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

... and today for Argentinosaurus, introduced last year: "The possibly largest known dinosaur. Argentinosaurus was described in 1993 by the important paleontologist José Bonaparte, who sadly passed away this week."! My first FA ever, invited generously by Brianboulton and Tim riley, Messiah (Handel), was first performed OTD in 1942, DYK? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:53, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Thanks! Your FA looks impressive, though I have no idea at all about the topic (and therefore probably should read it). --Jens Lallensack (talk) 06:57, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Go ahead ;) - The main article was mostly the work of the others, my contribution being pruning and correcting the myth that Bach composed the melody of Wachet auf (wake up). The article had too little about structure and music, so I wrote 4 supporting articles, He was despised. All this was in 2012. More recent production: Wie schön (how beautiful) based on the other hymn by Nicolai. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:57, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Thank you today for your share to Podokesaurus, "about the first dinosaur discovered and named by a woman (Mignon Talbot in 1911), and also one of the first well-known small theropods discovered, which attracted international scientific interest at the time. Unfortunately, the only known specimen was destroyed by a fire, so it has become fairly obscure over time. All that will probably ever be known about the dinosaur is summarised here, so hopefully it can bring some attention to its historical importance."! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:33, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Thanks! Though I really didn't do much for this article :) --Jens Lallensack (talk) 07:29, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Achelousaurus

Vielen Dank für die Achelousaurus Artikel!--MWAK (talk) 18:56, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Gern geschehen :-) --Jens Lallensack (talk) 19:04, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Carnotaurus restoration

Hi Jens, there's currently a restoration of Carnotaurus on review[6], so since you wrote the article, I was thinking you probably have some input? It could maybe go in instead of the old restoration. FunkMonk (talk) 23:22, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

Amargasaurus scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that the Amargasaurus article has been scheduled as today's featured article for October 22, 2017. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 22, 2017, but note that a coordinator will trim the lead to around 1100 characters anyway, so you aren't obliged to do so. Thanks! Jimfbleak - talk to me? 06:19, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for a "spectacular dinosaur from Argentina"! (late sign:) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:32, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

Besten Dank! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 14:07, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld has been accepted

Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld, which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.
The article has been assessed as C-Class, which is recorded on the article's talk page. You may like to take a look at the grading scheme to see how you can improve the article.

You are more than welcome to continue making quality contributions to Wikipedia. Note that because you are a logged-in user, you can create articles yourself, and don't have to post a request. However, you may continue submitting work to Articles for Creation if you prefer.

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Thank you for helping improve Wikipedia!

Sulfurboy (talk) 17:41, 24 October 2017 (UTC)

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Winter War FAC

Hey Jens! A kind ping: I've addressed your FAC comments at Wikipedia:Featured_article_candidates/Winter_War/archive2, thx again for reviewing! Manelolo (talk) 07:50, 10 January 2018 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Ceratosaurus

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Ceratosaurus you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of FunkMonk -- FunkMonk (talk) 16:01, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Ceratosaurus

The article Ceratosaurus you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Ceratosaurus for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of FunkMonk -- FunkMonk (talk) 16:21, 22 April 2018 (UTC)

Heterodontosaurus scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that Heterodontosaurus has been scheduled as today's featured article for 12 May 2018. Please check that the article needs no polishing or corrections. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 12, 2018. Ealdgyth - Talk 15:40, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

A Barnstar for you!

The GA Reviewer's Barnstar

Thank you for your work on evaluating articles that have been proposed for Good Article status. Many times, reviewers don't get noticed for their work. Reviewing an article and working with other editors to improve content takes effort. In addition, a commitment to put aside a block of time for the review is also needed to finish the process. I don't think most other editors realize what a service you are doing to improve the quality of content. What you do provides an incentive for the continuing improvement of content. You’ve put in the time and effort to improve content and therefore deserve recognition and appreciation.
The Very Best of Regards, Barbara ✐  ✉ 14:45, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

Many thanks, Barbara! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:37, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

Cleopatra FAC

Hello! I responded to your review over at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Cleopatra/archive1. Thanks for initiating a review of the article! I hope that I can address all of your concerns where they may arise. Regards, Pericles of Athens^Talk 22:49, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

Thanks! I'm still reading through the rest of the article, but so far there isn't really something to complain about! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 04:38, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

Ceratosaurus

Congratulations, and thank you for writing the article, Jens! Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:31, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Thank you very much, User:Axl! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 13:30, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

FA for Fawad Khan

Hi, I've recently listed Fawad Khan in FA candidates. I'll an honor for me if you consider reviewing it.Amirk94391 (talk) 04:04, 1 July 2018 (UTC)

Thanks, but actors are absolutely not my field (I barely know any of them by name). I wish you success though! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 05:02, 1 July 2018 (UTC)hi jens thanks for review of agriculture. am away for a few days with unsuitable de ice will reply as soon S I an Chiswick chap

Thank you

Thanks to editors like you who are willing to review articles such as North Cascades National Park and offer excellent suggestions, it is now a Featured Article! I've done now more than a dozen nominations and your detailed suggestions touched on the entire article. Persons willing to go that extra mile to do a review as you did are a rare breed here and I thank you.--MONGO (talk) 16:24, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Thanks and congratulations for the FA; I am very glad too hear that, good to know that I was able to help! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 16:40, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Ubinas

Greetings, at the risk of sounding like I am pestering I think I've addressed the last concerns you mentioned in Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Ubinas/archive1, including adding some more general information as well as the stage I and stage II distinctions. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 19:42, 23 September 2018 (UTC)

Thanks!

A rather grueling FAC, but finally made it to FA. Thanks for your feedback and support! - ☣Tourbillon ^A ? 13:31, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Thank you

Hi Jens. Just to say thank you for taking on that GAN. I know it took a while, but it was good to have another pair of eyes looking through the article. A appreciate your effort on it. All the best, Midnightblueowl (talk) 11:22, 8 November 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, Midnightblueowl, this is kind of you, and I am glad that I could be of help. It is a huge article, but excellently written throughout, and therefore a pleasure to read. Thanks for this immensely important contribution. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:32, 8 November 2018 (UTC)

Elton John

I saw your wonderful work on the Stalin article and was wondering if you'd be so kind as to review the article for Elton John when I nominate it for GA in the near future.MagicatthemovieS (talk) 04:06, 10 November 2018 (UTC)MagicatthemovieS

Thanks! Elton John is not precisely within my sphere of interest and not my taste of music, so I think that others might have more fun reviewing it. But please just nominate it; I will keep an eye on it, and if nobody takes the review, I will be thinking about it again! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 06:37, 10 November 2018 (UTC)

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The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

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Ways to improve Glossary of dinosaur anatomy

Thanks for creating Glossary of dinosaur anatomy.

A New Page Patroller Rosguill just tagged the page as having some issues to fix, and wrote this note for you:

Great work!

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_signed, Rosguill ^talk 20:37, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

Ceratosaurus scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that the Ceratosaurus article has been scheduled as today's featured article for January 8, 2019. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 8, 2019, but note that a coordinator will trim the lead to around 1000 characters anyway, so you aren't obliged to do so.

We also suggest that you watchlist Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors on the day before and the day of this TFA. Thanks! Jimfbleak - talk to me? 14:55, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Besarion Jughashvili GAC

Just a heads up that I have addressed the concerns at the GAC. Any further review is also welcome. Kaiser matias (talk) 23:39, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Passed it; congrats for the GA! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 10:31, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

	Austral season's greetings
	Tuck into this! We've made about three of these in the last few days for various festivities. Supermarkets are stuffed with cheap berries. Season's greetings! Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 03:44, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, Cas. Looks awesome! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 10:31, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

First round of GA review edits for Paleoart

Hi Jens, thanks again for your helpful comments in reviewing the Paleoart article for GA status. I've just now completed all of your suggestions on the article to the best of my ability, though there is a small handful of items I'm unsure of. For these, I've commented in response to your suggestions with some questions, mainly about sources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Paleoart/GA1#GA_Review Thanks for your help! -Ferahgo the Assassin (talk) 01:27, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Sorry to bother, but I am wondering if you might have time to get to this soon—I have upcoming real life obligations in a few days that might delay the process if there are further major revisions that need to be made. I was hoping to finish the review before then. Thanks for your time! -Ferahgo the Assassin (talk) 17:37, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

Sure! Thanks for the comprehensive improvements, I think the article made a big step forwards. I left two more points, but promoted now anyways, as the criteria are more than fulfilled. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 18:04, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

"Unnamed specimen from Brazil"

Hi, do you have the name of the formation of that specimen? Would be good to add to the articles and also to that formation, or a new entry on the to-do list. I have been working on the Neuquén Basin, cleaning up the existing formations first, before starting the work on the Mendoza Group. Cheers, Tisquesusa (talk) 18:19, 18 February 2019 (UTC)

Added it: Itapecurú Formation. Never heard of that one though. If you want to put it on your to-do list, that would be wonderful. Thanks, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 18:25, 18 February 2019 (UTC)

Hmm, I thought that means the formation was misspelled, which happens often with Spanish and Portuguese names, especially of indigenous origin, like this one, but it is misspelled in the book then. We have the Itapecuru Formation, and the name derives from Itapecuru Mirim. See pt-wiki, it is not with an accent in this case. Tisquesusa (talk) 19:04, 18 February 2019 (UTC)

Interesting, corrected! Thanks, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:24, 18 February 2019 (UTC)

Genetically modified organism

I just wanted to drop a personal note of appreciation for your review of this article. It can be a bit hit and miss with reviewers and this was definitely a hit. Especially considering the controversial nature of the topic. Thanks to you it has improved in ways that it wouldn't have with just me and the regular editors. Thank you. AIRcorn (talk) 07:52, 24 February 2019 (UTC)

Thank you very much, I'm very happy about how the review went and how thoroughly everything was addressed, thank you very much for all the good work on this important article. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 09:32, 24 February 2019 (UTC)

DYK for Bajadasaurus

On 4 March 2019, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Bajadasaurus, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Bajadasaurus had elongated neural spines on its neck, thought to have been used to deter predators? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Bajadasaurus. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Bajadasaurus), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

 — Amakuru (talk) 00:02, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Bajadasaurus

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Bajadasaurus you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of FunkMonk -- FunkMonk (talk) 10:41, 5 March 2019 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Bajadasaurus

The article Bajadasaurus you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Bajadasaurus for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of FunkMonk -- FunkMonk (talk) 12:02, 9 March 2019 (UTC)

GA review of Bernard Gui

Hi Jens, thank you so much for very kindly and promptly reviewing my GA nomination for Bernard Gui. Just a heads up to let you know that I've made all of the recommended changes. Thanks again! --Etiennedebourbon (talk) 15:32, 10 March 2019 (UTC)

DYK for Spinophorosaurus

On 13 March 2019, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Spinophorosaurus, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Spinophorosaurus had spikes on its tail, unlike most other sauropod dinosaurs? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Spinophorosaurus. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Spinophorosaurus), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

 — Amakuru (talk) 00:02, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Special Barnstar
	Thank you for the work you do reviewing articles for GA as well as significantly expanding and improving articles yourself. I'm particularly impressed by your work on Brachiosaurus! SkyGazer 512 My talk page 13:58, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Thank you very much, SkyGazer 512! Although for Brachiosaurus I can only take part of the credit, it was an very successful collaborative effort of our wiki project where a number of people made significant contributions. Thanks again, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 03:01, 22 March 2019 (UTC)

My credentials

I know that I have appeared out of nowhere on the BRG-34 GA review. I want to state here that my background (parts on my User page) includes a doctorate in nutritional biochemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and until recently retired, 14 years as an expert science consultant to U.S. companies in the dietary supplement industry. David notMD (talk) 09:42, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Talk:African humid period/GA1

Greetings, noting here that I posted something for you on the Talk:African humid period/GA1 page. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 16:13, 19 April 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I'm sorry for the delay, will continue as soon as possible. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 17:17, 19 April 2019 (UTC)

For diligent reviewing

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		By the authority vested in me by myself it gives me great pleasure to present you with this barnstar in recognition of the huge amount of reviewing you do. It seems that I can hardly look at a FA without discovering that you did a review for it. Long may it continue. Gog the Mild (talk) 21:43, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

Thank you so much for this, Gog! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 03:59, 28 April 2019 (UTC)

GA nom for BGR-34

Are there any issues still outstanding? David notMD (talk) 02:17, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

@David notMD: Sorry for the delay, real life got me occupied. I passed it now! Thank you for your contributions to this article. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 11:44, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

Your contributions to GA are highly appreciated. P.S. I added the GA button to the top of the article page. David notMD (talk) 11:56, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

Thank you! Usually there is no need to add the GA button manually; a bot will do that after a while. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 14:31, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter

April 2019—Issue 001

Tree of Life

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Sturgeon nominated by Atsme, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Eastern brown snake nominated by Casliber, reviewed by Opabinia regalis Cactus wren nominated by CaptainEek, reviewed by Sainsf Bidni nominated by PolluxWorld, reviewed by DepressedPer Crinoid nominated by Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by Chiswick Chap

Newly nominated FAs

Cretoxyrhina nominated by Macrophyseter Eastern brown snake nominated by Casliber

WikiCup heating up

Tree of Life editors are making a respectable showing in this year's WikiCup, with three regular editors advancing to the third round. Overall winner from 2016, Casliber, topped the scoreboard in points for round 2, getting a nice bonus for bringing Black mamba to FA. Enwebb continues to favor things remotely related to bats, bringing Stellaluna to GA. Plants editor Guettarda also advanced to round 3 with several plant-related DYKs.

Wikipedia page views track animal migrations, flowers blooming

A March 2019 paper in PLOS Biology found that Wikipedia page views vary seasonally for species. With a dataset of 31,751 articles about species, the authors found that roughly a quarter of all articles had significant seasonal variations in page views on at least one language version of Wikipedia. They examined 245 language versions. Page views also peaked with cultural events, such as views of the Great white shark article during Shark Week or Turkey during Thanksgiving.

Seasonal variation in page views among nine bird species

Did you know ... that Tree of Life editors bring content to the front page nearly every day?

April DYKs * ... that Dippy is the most famous dinosaur skeleton in the world? (1 April)

• ... that Coccothrinax jimenezii, a palm tree native to the island of Hispaniola, was listed as a critically endangered species within two years of its formal description? (5 April)
  
• ... that Hubbard's angel insects groom themselves and each other, perhaps in order to avoid the fungal diseases that kill many zorapterans? (6 April)
  
• ... that the polychaete worm Poecilochaetus serpens digs a burrow with its head and lines it with particles of clay or mud cemented with mucus? (8 April)
  
• ... that Promachocrinus is unusual among crinoids in having ten pairs of arms? (9 April)
  
• ... that while the fan palm Coccothrinax jamaicensis is the only Coccothrinax species native to Jamaica, the neighbouring island of Cuba has 39 native species? (10 April)
  
• ... that Sternaspis scutata swallows mud? (11 April)
  
• ... that the critically endangered Chinese alligator may have helped inspire the mythology of the Chinese dragon? (11 April)
  
• ... that the Indian Creek mushroom can be distinguished from chanterelles by its staining dark purple when cut or bruised? (12 April)
  
• ... that the mottled piculet likes to drum on bamboo? (13 April)
  
• ... that some leaves of the South African plant Romulea tortuosa are shaped like corkscrews? (15 April)
  
• ... that the colour and texture of the transparent lamellaria may vary according to the species of sea squirt on which it is living? (15 April)
  
• ... that the royal vole has larder chambers in its burrow but not latrines? (16 April)
  
• ... that the scientific name of the Chatham shag commemorates a former governor of New Zealand? (17 April)
  
• ... that the weevil species Sicoderus bautistai, described as resembling "black, shiny ants", is named after professional baseball player José Bautista? (18 April)
  
• ... that the dire whelk sometimes shares the prey of the ochre sea star while it is eating? (19 April)
  
• ... that in the 1970s, spoon worms helped promote biodiversity around the effluent outlets from the Los Angeles sewage system? (21 April)
  
• ... that some insect populations have declined dramatically? (22 April)
  
• ... that among the threats facing the "critically endangered" freshwater crayfish Euastacus dalagarbe are domestic livestock and cane toads? (23 April)
  
• ... that digger's speedwell is so named because it was thought to indicate the presence of gold? (24 April)
  
• ... that the yeast Candida blankii, first described from mink organs, is now known to infect humans? (25 April)
  
• ... that the young of the striking sea star are nourished in a manner described as "cannibalistic ectoparasitism"? (27 April)
  
• ... that the Bonin white-eye can evidently learn about new food sources by watching warbling white-eyes feed? (28 April)
  
• ... that the crinoid Aporometra wilsoni broods its young in cavities in the feathery pinnules on its arms? (30 April)
  

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:24, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Trachodon mummy

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Trachodon mummy you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Gog the Mild -- Gog the Mild (talk) 20:20, 21 May 2019 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Trachodon mummy

The article Trachodon mummy you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Trachodon mummy for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Gog the Mild -- Gog the Mild (talk) 18:21, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

okay

Suskityrannus skull

this is good enough? --Bubblesorg (talk) 17:12, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Yes thanks, that would be a great addition to the article! If you want to improve it further, you could crop it more tightly (the thumb views in Wikipedia are tiny enough already); also the text is not really needed when used in the article (we have the figure captions for this, which are better readable and more accessible; removing the text would allow you to crop it even more). --Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:49, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Okay. Yeah i will just keep to text however unless its extremely harmful. --Bubblesorg (talk) 21:13, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

May 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

May 2019—Issue 002

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Cretoxyrhina by Macrophyseter Bramble Cay melomys by The lorax/Vanamonde93, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Chimpanzee by LittleJerry/Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Tim riley Spinophorosaurus by FunkMonk/Jens Lallensack, reviewed by Enwebb Trachodon mummy by Jens Lallensack, reviewed by Gog the Mild Megabat by Enwebb, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated FAs

Spinophorosaurus by FunkMonk/Jens Lallensack Trachodon mummy by Jens Lallensack

Fundamental changes being discussed at WikiProject Biology

On 23 May, user Prometheus720 created a talk page post, "Revamp of Wikiproject Biology--Who is In?". In the days since, WP:BIOL has been bustling with activity, with over a dozen editors weighing in on this discussion, as well as several others that have subsequently spawned. An undercurrent of thought is that WP:BIOL has too many subprojects, preventing editors from easily interacting and stopping a "critical mass" of collaboration and engagement. Many mergers and consolidations of subprojects have been tentatively listed, with a consolidation of WikiProjects Genetics + Molecular and Cell Biology + Computational Biology + Biophysics currently in discussion. Other ideas being aired include updating old participants lists, redesigning project pages to make them more user-friendly, and clearly identifying long- and short-term goals.

Editor Spotlight: These editors want you to write about dinosaurs

Editors FunkMonk and Jens Lallensack had a very fruitful month, collaborating to bring two dinosaur articles to GA and then nominating them both for FA. They graciously decided to answer some questions for the first ToL Editor Spotlight, giving insight to their successful collaborations, explaining why you should collaborate with them, and also sharing some tidbits about their lives off-Wikipedia.

1) Enwebb: How long have you two been collaborating on articles?

• Jens Lallensack: I started in the German Wikipedia in 2005 but switched to the English Wikipedia because of its very active dinosaur project. My first major collaboration with FunkMonk was on Heterodontosaurus in 2015.
• FunkMonk: Yeah, we had interacted already on talk pages and through reviewing each other's articles, and at some point I was thinking of expanding Heterodontosaurus, and realised Jens had already written the German Wikipedia version, so it seemed natural to work together on the English one. Our latest collaboration was Spinophorosaurus, where by another coincidence, I had wanted to work on that article for the WP:Four Award, and it turned out that Jens had a German book about the expedition that found the dinosaur, which I wouldn't have been able to utilise with my meagre German skills. Between those, we also worked on Brachiosaurus, a wider Dinosaur Project collaboration between several editors.

2) Enwebb: Why dinosaurs?

• JL: Because of the huge public interest in them. But dinosaurs are also highly interesting from a scientific point of view: key evolutionary innovations emerged within this group, such as warm-bloodedness, gigantism, and flight. Dinosaur research is, together with the study of fossil human remains, the most active field in paleontology. New scientific techniques and approaches tend to get developed within this field. Dinosaur research became increasingly interdisciplinary, and now does not only rely on various fields of biology and geology, but also on chemistry and physics, among others. Dinosaurs are therefore ideal to convey scientific methodology to the general public.
• FM: As outlined above, dinosaurs have been described as a "gateway to science"; if you learn about dinosaurs, you will most likely also learn about a lot of scientific fields you would not necessarily be exposed to otherwise. On a more personal level, having grown up with and being influenced by various dinosaur media, it feels pretty cool to help spread knowledge about these animals, closest we can get to keeping them alive.

3) Enwebb: Why should other editors join you in writing articles related to paleontology? Are you looking to attract new editors, or draw in experienced editors from other areas of Wikipedia?

• JL: Because we are a small but active and helpful community. Our Dinosaur collaboration, one of the very few active open collaborations in Wikipedia, makes high-level writing on important articles easier and more fun. Our collaboration is especially open to editors without prior experience in high-level writing. But we do not only write articles: several WikiProject Dinosaur participants are artists who do a great job illustrating the articles, and maintain an extensive and very active image review system. In fact, a number of later authors started with contributing images.
• FM: Anyone who is interested in palaeontology is welcome to try writing articles, and we would be more than willing to help. I find that the more people that work on articles simultaneously with me, the more motivation I get to write myself. I am also one of those editors who started out contributing dinosaur illustrations and making minor edits, and only began writing after some years. But when I got to it, it wasn't as intimidating as I had feared, and I've learned a lot in the process. For example anatomy; if you know dinosaur anatomy, you have a very good framework for understanding the anatomy of other tetrapod animals, including humans.

4) Enwebb: Between the two of you, you have over 300 GA reviews. FunkMonk, you have over 250 of those. What keeps you coming back to review more articles?

• FM: One of the main reasons I review GANs is to learn more about subjects that seem interesting (or which I would perhaps not come across otherwise). There are of course also more practical reasons, such as helping an article on its way towards FAC, to reduce the GAN backlog, and to "pay back" when I have a nomination up myself. It feels like a win-win situation where I can be entertained by interesting info, while also helping other editors get their nominations in shape, and we'll end up with an article that hopefully serves to educate a lot of people (the greater good).
• JL: Because I enjoy reading Wikipedia articles and like to learn new things. In addition, reviews give me the opportunity to have direct contact with the authors, and help them to make their articles even better. This is quite rewarding for me personally. But I also review because I consider our GA and FA system to be of fundamental importance for Wikipedia. When I started editing Wikipedia (the German version), the article promotion reviews motivated me and improved my writing skills a lot. Submitting an article for review requires one to get serious and take additional steps to bring the article to the best quality possible. GAs and FAs are also a good starting point for readers, and may motivate them to become authors themselves.

5) Enwebb: What are your editing preferences? Any scripts or gadgets you find invaluable?

• FM: One script that everyone should know about is the duplink highlight tool. It will show duplinks within the intro and body of a given article separately, and it seems a lot of people still don't know about it, though they are happy when introduced to it. I really liked the citationbot too (since citation consistency is a boring chore to me), but it seems to be blocked at the moment due to some technical issues.
• JL: I often review using the Wikipedia Beta app on my smartphone, as it allows me to read without needing to sit in front of the PC. For writing, I find the reference management software Zotero invaluable, as it generates citation templates automatically, saving a lot of time.
  • Editor's note: I downloaded Zotero and tried it for the first time and think it is a very useful tool. More here.

6) Enwebb: What would surprise the ToL community to learn about your life off-wiki?

• FM: Perhaps that I have no background in natural history/science, but work with animation and games. But fascination with and knowledge of nature and animals is actually very helpful when designing and animating characters and creatures, so it isn't that far off, and I can actually use some of the things I learn while writing here for my work (when I wrote the Dromaeosauroides article, it was partially to learn more about the animal for a design-school project).
• JL: That I am actually doing research on dinosaurs. Though I avoid writing about topics I publish research on, my Wikipedia work helps me to keep a good general overview over the field, and quite regularly I can use what I learned while writing for Wikipedia for my research.

Get in touch with these editors regarding collaboration at WikiProject Dinosaurs!

Marine life continues to dominate ToL DYKs

May DYKs

• ... that the Pacific baza has been rumoured to imitate the calls of tree frogs when hunting, inducing them to return the call? (1 May)
• ... that 'Dumelow's Seedling' is known by more than 50 alternative names? (2 May)
• ... that staghorn hydrocoral grows on a mollusc shell occupied by a hermit crab? (3 May)
• ... that the burrow of the spoon worm Maxmuelleria lankesteri is sometimes modified by fish and crustaceans that take up occupancy there? (4 May)
• ... that the hairy sea squirt is preyed on by the Oregon hairy triton? (5 May)
• ... that the splendid hermit crab almost exclusively chooses to inhabit a shell on which a colonial hydroid is living? (8 May)
• ... that crinoids are closely related to sea urchins and starfish? (14 May)
• ... that El Drago Milenario, located in Parque del Drago, Tenerife, is the largest and oldest known specimen of Dracaena draco? (16 May)
• ... that the deepwater crinoid Notocrinus virilis broods its young in pouches on its arms? (17 May)
• ... that some ancient trees of the olive cultivar 'Bidni' have been recognised as "national monuments" in Malta? (18 May)
• ... that sturgeons are ancient fishes, widely sought after for caviar and more critically endangered than any other group of animal species? (19 May)
• ... that when several of the small bivalve molluscs Lasaea rubra occupy the same rock crevice, they are likely to be clones? (21 May)
• ... that the small crustacean Pseudamphithoides incurvaria builds itself a home out of forded sea tumbleweed, a brown seaweed that is distasteful to fish? (23 May)
• ... that while a red Irish lord can change color, it is not a yellow Irish lord? (24 May)
• ... that the whiteknee hermit crab is benefitted by the presence of the hedgehog hydroid but harmed by the barnacle Clistosaccus? (25 May)

Discuss this issue

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Sent by DannyS712 (talk) using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) at 03:44, 4 June 2019 (UTC)

June 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

June 2019—Issue 003

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Masked booby by Casliber and Aa77zz, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Rook (bird) by Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by J Milburn Vernonopterus by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Super Dromaeosaurus Campylocephalus by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Super Dromaeosaurus Unionopterus by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Ashorocetus Big Cat, Little Cat by Barkeep49, reviewed by J Milburn Félicette by Kees08, reviewed by Nova Crystallis

Newly nominated content

Masked booby by Casliber Adelophthalmidae Plains zebra by LittleJerry Letter-winged kite by Casliber

Relative WikiWork

Project name	Relative WikiWork
Cats	4.79
Fisheries and fishing	4.9
Dogs	4.91
Viruses	4.91
ToL	4.94
Cetaceans	4.97
Primates	4.98
Sharks	5.04
All wikiprojects average	5.05
Dinosaurs	5.12
Equine	5.15
Bats	5.25
Mammals	5.32
Aquarium fishes	5.35
Hypericaceae	5.38
Turtles	5.4
Birds	5.46
Australian biota	5.5
Marine life	5.54
Animals	5.56
Paleontology	5.57
Rodents	5.58
Amphibians and Reptiles	5.64
Fungi	5.65
Bivalves	5.66
Plants	5.67
Algae	5.68
Arthropods	5.69
Hymenoptera	5.72
Microbiology	5.72
Cephalopods	5.74
Fishes	5.76
Ants	5.79
Gastropods	5.8
Spiders	5.86
Insects	5.9
Beetles	5.98
Lepidoptera	5.98

Spineless editors overwhelmed by stubs

Within the Tree of Life and its many subprojects, there is an abundance of stubs. Welcome to Wikipedia, what's new, right? However, based on all wikiprojects listed (just over two thousand), the Tree of Life project is worse off in average article quality than most. Based on the concept of relative WikiWork (the average number of "steps" needed to have a project consisting of all featured articles (FAs), where stub status → FA consists of six steps), only seven projects within the ToL have an average rating of "start class" or better. Many projects, particularly those involving invertebrates, hover at an average article quality slightly better than a stub. With relative WikiWorks of 5.98 each, WikiProject Lepidoptera and WikiProject Beetles have the highest relative WikiWork of any project. Given that invertebrates are incredibly speciose, it may not surprise you that many articles about them are lower quality. WikiProject Beetles, for example, has over 20 times more articles than WikiProject Cats. Wikipedia will always be incomplete, so we should take our relatively low WikiWork as motivation to write more articles that are also better in quality.

Editor Spotlight: Showing love to misfit taxa

We're joined for this month's Editor Spotlight by NessieVL, a long-time contributor who lists themselves as a member of WikiProject Fungus, WikiProject Algae, and WikiProject Cephalopods.

1) Enwebb: How did you come to edit articles about organisms and taxonomic groups?

• Nessie: The main force, then and now, driving me to create or edit articles is thinking "Why isn't there an article on that on Wikipedia?" Either I'll read about some rarely-sighted creature in the deep sea or find something new on iNaturalist and want to learn more. First stop (surprise!) is Wikipedia, and many times there is just a stub or no page at all. Sometimes I just add the source that got me to the article, not sometimes I go deep and try to get everything from the library or online journals and put it all in an article. The nice thing about taxa is the strong precedent that all accepted extant taxa are notable, so one does not need to really worry about doing a ton of research and having the page get removed. I was super worried about this as a new editor: I still really dislike conflict so if I can avoid it I do. Anyway, the most important part is stitching an article in to the rest of Wikipedia: Linking all the jargon, taxonomers, pollinators, etc., adding categories, and putting in the correct WikiProjects. Recently I have been doing more of the stitching-in stuff with extant articles. The last deep-dive article I made was Karuka at the end of last year, which is a bit of a break for me. I guess it's easier to do all the other stuff on my tablet while watching TV.

2) Enwebb: Many editors in the ToL are highly specialized on a group of taxa. A look at your recently created articles includes much diversity, though, with viruses, bacteria, algae, and cnidarians all represented—are there any commonalities for the articles you work on? Would you say you're particularly interested in certain groups?

• Nessie: I was a nerd from a time when that would get you beat up, so I like odd things and underdogs. I also avoid butting heads, so not only do I find siphonophores and seaweeds fascinating I don't have to worry about stepping on anyone's toes. I go down rabbitholes where I start writing an article like Mastocarpus papillatus because I found some growing on some rocks, then in my research I see it is parasitized by Pythium porphyrae, which has no article, and how can that be for an oomycete that oddly lives in the ocean and also attacks my tasty nori. So then I wrote that article and that got me blowing off the dust on other Oomycota articles, encouraged by the pull of propagating automatic taxoboxes. Once you've done the taxonomy template for the genus, well then you might as well do all the species now that the template is taken care of for them too. and so on until I get sucked in somewhere else. I think it's good to advocate for some of these 'oddball' taxa as it makes it easier for editors to expand their range from say plants to the pathogenic microorganisms of their favorite plant.

My favorite clades though, It's hard to pick for a dilettante like me. I like working on virus taxonomy, but I can't think of a specific virus species that I am awed by. Maybe Tulip breaking virus for teaching us economics or Variola virus for having so many smallpox deities, one of which was popularly sung about by Desi Arnaz and then inspired the name of a cartoon character who was then misremembered and then turned into a nickname for Howard Stern's producer Gary Dell'Abate. Sorry, really had to share that chain, but for a species that's not a staple food it probably has the most deities. But anyway, for having the most species that wow me, I love a good fungus or algae, but that often is led by my stomach. Also why I seem to research so many plant articles. You can't eat siphonophores, at least I don't, but they are fascinating with their federalist colonies of zooids. Bats are all amazing, but the task force seems to have done so much I feel the oomycetes and slime moulds need more love. Same thing with dinosaurs (I'm team Therizinosaurus though). But honestly, every species has that one moment in the research where you just go, wow, that's so interesting. For instance, I loved discovering that the picture-winged fly (Delphinia picta) has a mating dance that involves blowing bubbles. Now I keep expecting them to show me when they land on my arm, but no such luck yet.

3) Enwebb: I noticed that many of your recent edits utilize the script Rater, which aids in quickly reassessing the quality and importance of an article. Why is it important to update talk page assessments of articles? I also noticed that the quality rating you assign often aligns with ORES, a script that uses machine-learning to predict article quality. Coincidence?

• Nessie: I initially started focusing on WikiProject talk page templates because they seem to be the key to data collecting and maintenance for articles, much more so than categories. This is where you note of an article needs an image, or audio, or a range map. It's how the cleanup listing bot sorts articles, and how Plantdrew does his automated taxobox usage stats. The latter inspired me to look for articles on organisms that are not assigned to any ToL WikiProjects which initially was in the thousands. I got it down to zero with just copypasta so you can imagine I was excited when I saw the rater tool. Back then I rated everything stub/low because it was faster: I couldn't check every article for the items on the B-class checklists. Plus each project has their own nuances to rating scales and I thought the editors in the individual projects would take it from there. I also thought all species were important, so how can I choose a favorite? Now it is much easier with the rater tool and the apparent consensus with Abductive's method of rating by the pageviews (0-9 views/day is low, 10-99 is med, 100-999 is high...). For the quality I generally go by the ORES rating, you caught me. It sometimes is thrown off by a long list of species or something, but it's generally good for stub to C: above that needs formal investigation and procedures I am still learning about. It seems that in the ToL projects we don't focus so much on getting articles to GA/FA so it's been harder to pick up. It was a little culture shock when I went on the Discord server and it seemed everyone was obsessed with getting articles up in quality. I think ToL is focusing on all the missing taxa and (re)organizing it all, which when you already have articles on every anime series or whatever you can focus on bulking the articles up more. In any event, on my growing to-do list is trying to get an article up to FA or GA and learn the process that way so I can better do the quality ratings and not just kick the can down the road.

4) Enwebb: What, if anything, can ToL and its subprojects do to better support collaboration and coordination among editors? How can we improve?

• Nessie: I mentioned earlier that the projects are the main way maintenance is done. And it is good that we have a bunch of subprojects that let those tasks get broken up into manageable pieces. Frankly I'm amazed anything gets done with WikiProject Plants with how huge its scope is. Yet this not only parcels out the work but the discussion as well. A few editors like Peter coxhead and Plantdrew keep an eye on many of the subprojects and spread the word, but it's still easy for newer editors to get a little lost. There should be balance between the lumping and splitting. The newsletter helps by crossing over all the WikiProjects, and if the discord channel picked up that would help too. Possibly the big Enwiki talk page changes will help as well.

5) Enwebb: What would surprise the ToL community to learn about your life off-Wikipedia?

• Nessie: I'm not sure anything would be surprising. I focus on nature offline too, foraging for mushrooms or wild plants and trying to avoid ticks and mosquitos. I have started going magnet fishing lately, more to help clean up the environment than in the hopes of finding anything valuable. But it would be fun to find a weapon and help solve a cold case or something.

June DYKs

June DYKs

• ... that the deep-sea coral species Gersemia juliepackardae was named for Julie Packard, executive director of Monterey Bay Aquarium, for her work as an ocean conservationist? (1 June)
• ... that despite a genus name referring to its dull leaves, Astilbe chinensis was celebrated as the most important new hardy perennial by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1902? (2 June)
• ... that the pea crab Tunicotheres moseri lives inside the water-filled chamber of a sea squirt? (4 June)
• ... that the primrose family and the evening primrose family are not closely related? (5 June)
• ... that Calma glaucoides has such a rich diet of eggs that it does not need an anus? (6 June)
• ... that the pea crab Calyptraeotheres garthi effectively castrates its slipper limpet host, but breeding resumes if the crab is removed? (11 June)
• ... that if the disc coral Cycloseris cyclolites gets buried in sediment, it can "float" itself free? (16 June)
• ... that the sea cucumber Leptopentacta elongata has a U-shaped or S-shaped body and occupies a burrow in the seabed? (17 June)
• ... that Al Hoceima National Park is one of the few locations where the ribbed Mediterranean limpet survives? (18 June)
• ... that the marine worm Themiste pyroides is unusual in that it forms swarms when breeding? (20 June)
• ... that cut branches of the small tree Erythrina berteroana are used to make living fence posts? (26 June)
• ... that the ripe seed pods of Brachystegia eurycoma burst explosively and throw out the large disc-shaped seeds? (28 June)
• ... that Swedish entomologist Carl H. Lindroth suggested that more than 40 species of North American ground beetle were inadvertently transported from Europe in ship's ballast? (29 June)
• ... that the sea hedgehog is a cannibal? (29 June)

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

sent by ZLEA via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:29, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

Congratulations from the Military History Project

		Military history reviewers' award
		On behalf of the Military History Project, I am proud to present the The Milhist reviewing award (2 stripes) for participating in 7 reviews between April and June 2019 Peacemaker67 (talk) via MilHistBot (talk) 03:05, 4 July 2019 (UTC) Keep track of upcoming reviews. Just copy and paste {{WPMILHIST Review alerts}} to your user space

New message from Serial Number 54129

Hello, Jens Lallensack. You have new messages at Talk:Coterel gang/GA1.
Message added 17:46, 6 July 2019 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

No worries, I forgot about it for a week! :) ——SerialNumber54129 17:46, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

Tree of Life Newsletter

July 2019—Issue 004

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

List of felids by PresN Masked booby by Casliber Letter-winged kite by Casliber, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Plains zebra by LittleJerry, reviewed by starsandwhales Ornithogalum umbellatum by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content

Letter-winged kite by Casliber Megabat by Enwebb Onychopterella by Super Dromaeosaurus Dvulikiaspis by Super Dromaeosaurus Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee by Hunter Kahn Giant golden-crowned flying fox by Enwebb Myxomatosis by Rabbit Vet

Two Tree of Life editors in WikiCup round of 16

The WikiCup, an annual editing competition, is now in its fourth round. Casliber, consistent participant since 2010 and winner in 2016, is currently dominating Group A with 601 points. Largely responsible is the successful Featured Article nomination of Masked booby. The other remaining Tree of Life participant, Enwebb, is participating in her first ever WikiCup. In this round, she has a grand total of...5 points. But with the recent Featured Article nomination of Megabat, she stands to gain 600 points if successful. As it stands, though, it appears that at least one ToL editor is headed to the fifth and final round of 8 contestants, which begins September 1.

Thus far, all participants in the WikiCup have generated 17 Featured Articles, 116 Good Articles, 16 Featured Lists, and 57 Featured Pictures. The Good Article Nominations backlog has been reduced as well, with 286 Good Article Reviews.

Editor spotlight: Photographing the tree of life

For this month's editor spotlight we're joined by Charlesjsharp, a longtime contributor to Wikimedia Commons with a plethora of featured pictures on English Wikipedia.

1) Starsandwhales: How long have you been editing Wikipedia, and how did you get interested? How did you begin your journey of photographing wildlife?

• Charlesjsharp: I uploaded my first pictures to Wikipedia twelve years ago for fun, to show my kids how it works. The pictures of my daughter (static trapeze), my son (Revell), my dog (Border Terrier) and my parents’ home (Tealing) are all still in the articles! I then started to upload wildlife images.

I’d got my first camera aged eight and went on my first safari in the Kruger Park, South Africa in 1970. I was hooked. I switched to digital in 2004, but didn’t buy any high-end lenses till 2014. Such a shame that hundreds of great photos I took before then look so dreadful by today’s quality standards. My 100-400mm lens transformed mammal and bird photography opportunities and when I got my 100mm macro lens in 2016, the whole new world of insects was open for business.

Pied kingfisher eating a chick, photographed by Charlesjsharp

2) S&W: Over the years, you've taken photos of many different organisms from birds to insects to big cats; you have an extensive list of favorite images. Which animals have been the most exciting for you to photograph?

• Charlesjsharp: The trophy animals the hunters used to shoot are the ones I like to shoot too: it was lion, elephant and baboon in 1970. More recently, hunting for tiger by jeep in Kanha National Park in India was exciting and so was searching for jaguar by boat in the rivers of the Pantanal in Brazil. Our encounters with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda was amazing, but the actual photography was no challenge.

But photographing animal behaviour is the most exciting and challenging. There’s usually movement and it all happens so fast, like when a bird captures its prey. Every now and then you snap something really unusual – like the cannibal kingfisher

3) S&W: Many articles under ToL have requests for people to add images that can go unanswered. What can the community do to improve the coverage of different organisms on Wikipedia, especially when it comes to images?

• Charlesjsharp: It’s a very time consuming process because the Wikipedia code is cumbersome (*see below). It take an age to upload to Commons: to describe, categorize, geocode. Many of the categories don’t exist so have to be created. If the image is of a subspecies, then all the images have to be checked before you can nominate an image for VI. It’s also takes ages to nominate images for VI and QI on Commons. May be some users use sophisticated tools to lighten the load, but I don’t know if they exist. In other words, Wikipedia is OK, but Commons is a nightmare. Hundreds of really poor quality photos clog up the system and some users are too lazy to filter and edit their nominations.
  

Recently, some thoughtless editor added a ‘caption’ box to Commons. A waste of time. The image title should act as the caption.

I applied for a grant to attend Wikimania, but was unsuccessful. Not much can happen without some funding to kickstart and then drive improvements forward.
Here was my response to the question: "How can we increase the quality and diversity of images being uploaded and, in particular, improve the Featured Picture, Quality Image and Valued Image projects?"

Panther chameleon male, photographed by Charlesjsharp

1. Work together on pre-defined projects to develop a team spirit that will help us develop a set of shared values

2. Through brainstorming, Identify what we need to do to improve the quality and diversity of images being uploaded and, in particular, identify what we need to do to improve the credibility of the Featured Picture, Quality Image and Valued Image projects

3. By sharing our photographic skills, find ways to share skills with the community. Knowledge transfer is time-consuming and we need to set limited objectives and realistic time frames. This will require compromise as individuals have to listen and find ways to agree. This is going to be much easier through face-to-face meetings

3. Identify what we need to do to improve the quality and diversity of images being uploaded (diversity of contributor and diversity in subject) and, in particular, identify what we need to do to improve the credibility of the Featured Picture, Quality Image and Valued Image projects

4. Spend more time talking about values and knowledge transfer than sharing photography tips amongst delegates, then getting all delegates to agree to DO SOMETHING WHEN THEY GET HOME to take things forward.

4) S&W: What advice would you give to people new to photographing wildlife?

• Charlesjsharp: An impossible question unless you know what someone’s objective is. So you’re on your first safari? Borrow or rent a decent camera and a quality 300mm lens. Then read a few of the dozens of free advice pages on the internet. Then when you’re out and about, take the lens cap off and set the camera to fully automatic sports mode. Be ready. If you’ve time, get in the right place (sunlight/background). Watch the animal’s behaviour. Point and shoot. Glance at the screen. If OK, repeat. Only then start playing with the settings to optimise shutter speed, F number and ISO.
  

5) S&W: What would the Tree of Life community be surprised to learn about your life off-wiki?

• Charlesjsharp: I used to be a high-end stamp collector (early USA). My photography is a sort of collecting. And I’m a keen bridge player.

* An example of cumbersome code: getting the layout of my responses to your questions. So dated, and no online spellchecker.

July DYKs

• ... that the wildlife of Senegal includes a critically endangered subspecies of the giant eland and the common Senegal one-striped grass mouse? (July 1)

Cycloseris distorta

Tiny the Wonder, killing rats
at the Blue Anchor Tavern

Episcia cupreata flower

• ... that the free-living, solitary coral Cycloseris distorta (pictured) can subdivide its stony skeleton and form two new individuals? (July 4)
• ... that the wildlife of Nigeria includes 940 species of bird and all eight known species of West African mangrove? (July 6)
• ... that Hypericum olympicum , an Award of Garden Merit winner, is toxic to dogs, cats, and horses? (July 10)
• ... that flyways used by migrating wetland birds have traditional staging points where they can rebuild their energy reserves? (July 12)
• ... that in two species of megabat, males have been observed to produce milk? (July 13)
• ... that the cave-nesting rockwarbler has also been called the "hanging dick" because of its nest? (July 15)
• ... that Strombosia pustulata is one of over two hundred species of tree growing in the Omo Forest Reserve? (July 16)
• ... that Tiny the Wonder (pictured) could kill 200 rats per hour in London's rat-baiting pits? (July 17)
• ... that the clingfish Diplecogaster bimaculata has been photographed cleaning a moray eel? (July 17)
• ... that in South Africa, the mosquito Anopheles funestus used to breed in fast-moving streams but now prefers swamps? (July 18)
• ... that while the leaf shape varies among hybrids of Episcia cupreata (pictured), the flowers always have the same form? (July 19)
• ... that Sommen charrs are a relict population that has survived because of Lake Sommen's great depth, and its cold and oxygen-rich waters? (July 20)
• ... that the extinction of the Bramble Cay melomys was described as the first for a mammal species due to anthropogenic climate change? (July 21)
• ... that Félicette, the first cat in space, was subjected to 9.5 g of acceleration and five minutes of weightlessness? (July 22)
• ... that the fly Phytobia betulae is just 5 mm (0.2 in) long but the tunnel made by its larva inside a birch tree may reach 17 m (56 ft)? (July 23)
• ... that rooks are intelligent birds and can rival or even beat chimpanzees in puzzle-solving tests? (July 24)
• ... that the Guinean striped mojarra is one of the fish caught in the less polluted part of the Ébrié Lagoon (July 27)
• ... that a new disease which is deadly to corals is spreading from the Florida Keys to other parts of the Caribbean? (July 28)
• ... that the yellow-footed honeyguide probably includes beeswax in its diet? (July 30)

Discuss this issue

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Sent by ZLEA via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:59, 1 August 2019 (UTC)

Argentinosaurus

Hi Jens, I was wondering if you're still interested in collaborating on Argentinosaurus. (Sorry for the delay in asking, my prediction about being ready to start in mid-June seems to have been pretty inaccurate.) It seems like the Colossosauria paper's finally been official published ([7]), so we could use that as a starting point for expanding the article. --Slate Weasel (talk | contribs) 15:03, 13 August 2019 (UTC)

Sure! Currently I'm quite busy in real life and struggle to get back on track here in Wikipedia, but I should definitely be able to free some time. How do we split the work? We need content on the anatomy, and yes, that Colossosauria paper is important. Then we do need to do a deep search for sources, to get every relevant information there is about these few bones! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 19:09, 13 August 2019 (UTC)

My editing situation is pretty much the same :) . I (re)wrote the majority of the paleoecology section, so I'm thinking of going over and revising it (I did something similar with Confuciusornis, and was quite surprised with how much more I was able to add). I'm also thinking of going over the classification section, since Argentinosaurus has been known to science for quite some time, it'll be interesting to see how our understanding of Titanosauria has changed over the years (also, looking back, I think that adding the Volgatitan paper wasn't the best idea ever, seeing as that it added one taxon to a prexisting study that was already cited). I don't have access to this paper ([8]), so I may not be very well-equipped for writing the description section, as it apparently re-orders the dorsals. As for the discovery and paleobiology sections, I guess I could go either way. Is there anything that you want to work on in particular? --Slate Weasel (talk | contribs) 12:02, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Sounds good. Ok, then I would work on the description section first. I also just sent you said paper for your records. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 14:00, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Wow, thanks for the paper! I see it states that the holotype contained a seventh dorsal, so I'll have to update the skeletal diagram again soon. --Slate Weasel (talk | contribs) 00:15, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

I wouldn't edit the position of any of the dorsals. So far there have been 3 published interpretations of the dorsals, the original paper, an abstract by Novas & Ezcurra, and a paper on titanosaur laminae by Salgado & Powell, with different interpretations of each. Right now I think the "consensus" of the two latter papers is that the "second" dorsal of Bonaparte & Coria 1993 is actually the most posterior of the described dorsals. IJReid ^{{{T - C - D - R}}} 16:23, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, I should've stated it more clearly - the holoype apparently preserved seven dorsal vertebrae, not six as the skeletal currently shows. --Slate Weasel (talk | contribs) 18:43, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

Edmontosaurus mummy AMNH 5060 scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that the above article has been scheduled as today's featured article for September 24, 2019. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 24, 2019. Thanks!—Wehwalt (talk) 08:55, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

August 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

August 2019—Issue 005

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Letter-winged kite by Casliber Megabat by Enwebb Rock parrot by Casliber Adelophthalmidae by Super Dromaeosaurus Giant golden-crowned flying fox by Enwebb, reviewed by Starsandwhales Myxomatosis by Rabbit Vet, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Tylopterella by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Starsandwhales and Enwebb Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Slender glass lizard by SL93, reviewed by Casliber Guano by Enwebb, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Dvulikiaspis by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Casliber Rock parrot by Casliber, reviewed by The Rambling Man Leptospirosis by Cerevisae, reviewed by Ajpolino Hepatitis E by Ozzie10aaaa, reviewed by Casliber Cardabiodon by Macrophyseter, reviewed by FunkMonk Clostridium tetani by Ajpolino, reviewed by Chiswick Chap

Newly nominated content

Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk Western yellow robin by Casliber Pekarangan by Dhio270599 Hibbertopterus by Ichthyovenator

What's the relevance of WikiJournals to WP:TOL?

WikiJournal of Science is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal

One publishing pipeline for WikiJSci

Guest column by Thomas Shafee (Evolution and evolvability), Editor in Chief of WikiJournal of Science

The Tree of Life WikiProject and its sprawling phylogeny of daughter projects is one of the largest and most active communities in Wikipedia. It encompasses approximately 570 Featured Articles and well over a thousand Good Articles (second only to military history). The WikiJournal of Science (one of three current journals in the user group) has a few aims that may closely align with the interests of the ToL community.

Review of existing articles

Firstly, WikiJSci can be a complementary system for FA review (getting external review, input, and validity). When an Wikipedia article is nominated (via WP:JAN), journal editors go out to non-Wikipedian academics and researchers who have published on the subject on the last five years and invite them to give feedback comments (e.g. Peripatric speciation and Baryonyx). The resulting changes can then be integrated back into the Wikipedia article.

Attracting new articles and contributors

Getting more editors involved in Wikipedia is always a high priority. WikiJSci can also be a way to encourage new people to contribute articles (especially on missing/stub/start topics). An example of an article that was written from scratch by a group of non-Wikipedians is Teladorsagia circumcincta. This not only resulted in a new Wikipedia page on an underdeveloped topic, but introduced the idea of Wikimedia contribution to a group of people who had previously never considered it.

Images, videos, sound and galleries

The journal can be a way to get multimedia content reviewed or encourage contribution. The same approach could be easily adapted to sounds (e.g. frog mating calls) or videos (e.g. starfish feet motion). It also allows for tracking of those images in new articles via Altmetric (this example has >200, which is bananas). There aren't any biology examples in WikiJSci yet, but the sister medical journal has published a few summary diagrams, photography, and image galleries. Examples include this gallery by Blausen Medical or the diagram of cell disassembly during apoptosis.

Other projects

For those interested in other Wikimedia sister projects, there's also broad scope for interactions with the WikiJournals. Perhaps peer reviewed teaching resources could be useful to sit alongside sets of Wikipedia articles and be integrated into Wikiversity courses (like this or this)? Can sections of Wikidata & Wikispecies be peer reviewed? What are the potential avenues for integration with WikiCite, WikiFactMine, Scholia, etc.? Currently, WikiJSci is aiming to be very flexible and try out different formats so long as they can be externally peer reviewed.

For more info, see the 2019-06-30 Signpost article and the current sister project proposal.

Editor spotlight: Cwmhiraeth

1) Enwebb: You're very prolific with DYKs, with over 2,000 nominations credited (in fact, I'll highlight which DYK nominations this month were yours below). What made you become so involved in this part of Wikipedia? Why should Tree of Life editors nominate articles for DYK?

Cwmhiraeth: I became aware of the WikiCup in 2012 and entered the contest. The scoring structure seemed to me to favour DYKs, and I went to considerable trouble to identify short stubs that could be expanded into qualifying start class articles with multiple bonus points. Casliber introduced me to preparing articles for FAC and Sasata helped me with my first solo FA. I won the WikiCup that year, and repeated that success the following year, after which the Cup got a bit more competitive. By that time, nominating articles for DYK was an ingrained habit, and I have continued doing so ever since, but at a rather slower rate. I do more work behind the scenes at DYK now, reviewing other people's nominations in excess of my QPQ requirement, and building prep sets ready to go on the main page, and I retired from competing in the WikiCup and became a judge instead. I would encourage ToL editors to nominate suitable articles for DYK because it gives great satisfaction to know that hundreds or even thousands of people have appreciated your work, and it provides a foil for the biographies and historical articles that predominate there.

2) Enwebb: I noticed that your DYK nominations reflect a diverse array of flora and fauna, from trees, marine invertebrates, birds, fishes, and mammals. How do you decide what to work on?

Cwmhiraeth: As I look around different articles I keep a note of things I might work on, red links, stub articles that need expanding or places in articles where I would like to add a wikilink but no suitable target page exists. So I have this list, but more often than not I choose a new article to work on based on a Google book that I have been using in a previous article. I like Google books; some of them are really useful for species articles, the main annoyance being when certain pages are permanently unavailable, although I am quite good at tricking the books into revealing pages that they were trying to prevent me from viewing. Eventually I get bored with African rodents, or whatever my present topic is, and move on. I am particularly interested in organisms living in extreme habitats, endangered species, invasive species, pest species, parasites or creatures with interesting behavioural traits.

3) Enwebb: Which of your Wikipedia accomplishments are you most proud of?

Cwmhiraeth: Well, Sea really. Again that was inspired by the WikiCup, and working in collaboration with Chiswick Chap, we took it from virtually nothing, little more than a list of seas, through DYK and GA, culminating in a really tough FA. That was very satisfying (as were the 1000 odd points it gained me at the WikiCup). In complete contrast was the article Tree. I completely rewrote it in a sandbox as an entry for the "Core contest". The previous version had been quite short with a section on "Record breaking trees" which I hived off into a separate article. My new version was immediately challenged and an edit war would have erupted had I not decided to retire from the fray. My version had some serious flaws, I had never studied botany and I had used a book source which misled me. However, after corrections, my version largely remained in place and I later joined Chiswick Chap in bringing the article to GA status.

4) Enwebb: What motivates you to keep contributing? What's your 10,000 ft view (pardon the non-SI) of the community and Tree of Life?

Cwmhiraeth: I think Wikipedia is a really great project. The idea of Wikipedia as a pool of knowledge contributed to by thousands of individuals in hundreds of countries is inspiring. It would be nice if we had no vandalism and everyone co-operated with everyone else in an amicable spirit, but as we are all human, it does not quite work out like that. I like to think of my efforts as a legacy that will continue in existence after I am gone.

6) Enwebb: How did you first become interested in natural history?

Cwmhiraeth: When I was young I had an elderly aunt who used to come to stay and who would take me for walks in the countryside, during which we would watch birds and identify wild flowers. She would take me out at weekends from my girls-only boarding school and we would search for orchids on the Wiltshire Downs. My school was not geared up for science, we just did general science for O-levels, and when it came to A-levels, I was the only pupil in my year to do zoology and chemistry, and one of only two to do physics, for which we had to cycle off to the grammar school on the other side of town. I wanted to be a vet, but was discouraged by my father, obtained a BSc in biochemistry and ended up in an unrelated job. If I were to live my life again, things might work out differently, but then I dare say we could all say that!

August DYKs

Weebill

Nanhaipotamon macau

P. lutzii (yeast phase)

Cannonball mangrove

Ruspolia nitidula male

Female kob and calf

• ... that falguera, a plant known from only one valley in Spain, is threatened by rock climbers and by road maintenance? (1 August)
• ... that Dioscorea chouardii is known from a single crag in the Pyrenees and has been monitored using scaffolding and telescopes? (3 August)
• ... that the tree Humbertia madagascariensis, whose durable timber is used in heavy construction, is a member of the morning glory family? (4 August)
• ... that the new pine knot-horn is a serious pest of maritime pine plantations? (5 August)
• ... that William Pope created "the first comprehensive, well executed pictorial record of Canadian birds"? (7 August)
• ... that fronds of the seaweed Halimeda tuna each consist of a single cell? (8 August)
• ... that Elongatoolithus, Macroolithus, and Nanhsiungoolithus were the first types of fossil eggs to be given names in the modern classification system? (9 August)
• ... that the maple Acer beckianum was described from a piece of petrified wood found near Vantage, Washington, in 1954? (10 August)
• ... that the queen parrotfish feeds on the algae it scrapes from corals and other surfaces, resulting in bioerosion? (11 August)
• ... that the weebill (pictured), measuring 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long, is Australia's smallest bird? (12 August)
• ... that sheep infected with the parasitic nematode Teladorsagia circumcincta may suffer from protein deficiency? (12 August)
• ... that the Sahel bush sparrow, found in the Oti Valley Faunal Reserve, is one of 676 species of bird recorded in Togo? (13 August)
• ... that the Ethiopian white-footed mouse and the Ethiopian forest brush-furred rat are two of the most abundant rodents in the montane forests of Ethiopia? (13 August)
• ... that Dardanus deformis is one of at least 24 species of hermit crab that transfer sea anemones to a new shell? (14 August)
• ... that the ornate rainbowfish can survive in water as acidic as orange juice? (14 August)
• ... that the African giant shrew was first described from a mummified specimen found in an ancient Egyptian tomb? (15 August)
• ... that the brown-cheeked hornbill is among the eleven species of hornbill native to Ivory Coast? (15 August)
• ... that among the many uses of Erythrophleum ivorense and Lannea welwitschii, trees growing in Assagny National Park, are rope-making, canoe-building and to poison fish? (16 August)
• ... that the densely-populated territory of Macau is home to a recently discovered, endemic species of freshwater crab of the genus Nanhaipotamon (pictured)? (17 August)
• ... that the crimson seedcracker has two morphs, large-billed and small-billed, but this trait is not related to sex, age, body size, or location? (18 August)
• ... that the large leaves of Marantochloa purpurea are used for wrapping cola nuts to prevent them from becoming desiccated? (18 August)
• ... that the sea anemone Anemonia sulcata is known as ortiguilla in southern Spain, where it is a popular seafood? (19 August)
• ... that the Sorana bean is grown in such small quantities and is in such demand that it commands prices six to ten times higher than those of other cannellini beans? (19 August)
• ... that antelope grass can recover quickly after wildfires even in the middle of the dry season? (19 August)
• ... that the Namib brush-tailed gerbil uses ultrasonic whistles and foot drumming to communicate? (20 August)
• ... that deforestation in Brazil could be linked to higher rates of the severe fungal infection caused by P. lutzii (pictured), a neglected tropical disease?
• ... that in Cameroon, edible caterpillars are cultivated on dwarf red ironwood leaves? (20 August)
• ... that the lesser seedcracker enjoys rice and the large, hard seeds of carrycillo? (21 August)
• ... that despite their names, the greater Egyptian gerbil and the lesser Egyptian gerbil are found across much of North Africa? (21 August)
• ... that it is not known whether larvae of Deretaphrus beetles spin their cocoons from their mouths or anal glands? (22 August)
• ... that the toxic bark of a Madagascan tree species has been used as a poison in trials by ordeal? (23 August)
• ... that the cannonball (pictured) and white-flowered black mangroves are among the ten species of mangrove listed as occurring in Mozambique? (24 August)
• ... that strips of bark from the West African copal are used to make beehives, while the flowers are attractive to bees? (24 August)
• ... that the swamp musk shrew scrambles around among aquatic vegetation in the dark? (25 August)
• ... that the rock parrot often nests in the old burrows of seabirds? (26 August)
• ... that the bush cricket Ruspolia nitidula (pictured) is commonly eaten in Uganda, where the price per unit weight is periodically higher than that of beef? (26 August)
• ... that despite its reported disappearance from Britain and other European countries, the fountain spleenwort is still considered to have a stable population trend? (27 August)
• ... that the African hut tampan can transmit relapsing fever in humans and African swine fever in pigs? (28 August)
• ... that in 1946, entomologists E. B. Pinniger and Cynthia Longfield were the first to identify the dainty damselfly in Britain? (28 August)
• ... that the Argus tortoise beetle is named after the mythical Greek giant Argus Panoptes? (28 August)
• ... that Pollichia campestris was first described in 1789 by the Scottish botanist William Aiton in the publication Hortus Kewensis, a catalogue of all the plants then being cultivated at Kew Gardens? (30 August)
• ... that the wildlife of Uganda includes the Ugandan kob (pictured), the Uganda mangabey, and the Ugandan musk shrew? (30 August)
• ... that the blue korhaan favours habitats with short grass, dwarf shrubs, and termite mounds, but few trees? (31 August)
• ... that forests in the Guineo-Congolian region of Africa include patches dominated by a single species of tree, such as Brachystegia laurentii, Julbernardia seretii, Michelsonia microphylla, or Gilbertiodendron dewevrei? (31 August)
• Highlighted DYKs were submitted by this month's spotlighted editor, Cwmhiraeth

Discuss this issue

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Sent by ZLEA via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) at 15:43, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

September 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

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

5

10

15

20

'02

'04

'06

'08

'10

'12

'14

'16

'18

•   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)

Discuss this issue

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Sent by ZLEA via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) at 22:26, 1 October 2019 (UTC)

October 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

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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Ohmdenosaurus

The tibia measures 40 or 42 cm according to various sources. Dinosaurs: The enciclopedia (Pag 632) cites 40 cm...but the upcoming Dinosaur Facts and Figures, the Sauropods and other Sauropodomorphs cites 40 or 42 cm (And that´s a problem, since it is a non released link). Carrano cites 405 mm on the 1997 work The evolution of dinosaur locomotion: functional morphology, biomechanics, and modern analogs (Doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy). Wild (1978) also cites 405 mm, even if he extrapolates 4 m(Beware with that! it is an especulation of the author)...Those 2 are the main cites. I ask Rubén Molina Pérez from EoFauna, Co-AUTOR of The Dinosaur facts and Figures, who calculated it, using Rhoetosaurus and Tazoudasaurus. The reconstruction was deleted when it has nothing to do with the description theme and respects the Eusauropoda grade, and more important, is legally updated, please return it. The scale is also accurate following the sizes provided by wild and Carrano.

-User talk:Yewtharaptor 05/12/19 —Preceding undated comment added 15:40, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

@Yewtharaptor: Ok, these are sources for the tibia length, but what about the rest of the paragraph you added, especially the body length and weight estimates? Where do they come from? And why are you adding sources that do not mention anything about the topic? Regarding the image (which was previously deleted on Commons due to copyright infringement): This means you asked the artist for permission? This is much appreciated, thanks. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 17:22, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

November 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

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:

• Advanced Ecology and Evolution
• Animal Behaviour
• Aquatic and Marsh Plants

• Bacterial Physiology
• Behavioral Ecology
• Development and Evolution
• The Evolution and Ecology of Sex
• Graduate Seminar in Conservation Biology
• Mammalogy
• Mammalogy
• Microbial Symbiosis and Microbiomes
• Microbiology
• Microbiology
• Plant Diversity
• Research and technical writing in Biology
• Wetland Ecology

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)

Discuss this issue

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December 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

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)

Discuss this issue

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Argentinosaurus

Great, thank you very much! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 08:04, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

2020 in archosaur paleontology

My edit moving several studies from this page to 2017 in archosaur paleontology, 2018 in archosaur paleontology and 2019 in archosaur paleontology was inspired by recent discussion on the talk page of the Wikiproject Paleontology. One of the conclusions of that discussion seems to be that the studies that have both an advance online version and the print version of the publication, and do not name new taxa, should be listed in the article corresponding to the year of the first publication. The studies removed from this page all had their advance online version published online in 2019, 2018 or even 2017, so I moved them to the relevant articles.--Macrochelys (talk) 17:45, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

@Macrochelys: My bad, I somehow thought that you moved stuff back to the general article "20** in Paleontology". Never mind. Thanks for doing this work! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 22:16, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

January 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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

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

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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)

Discuss this issue

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Amazing and surreal

		The Special Barnstar
		I was clearing out my watchlist and I noticed that you were the main writer behind taking Trachodon mummy (which has since been renamed), an article I created and submitted to WP:DYK as a high schooler thirteen years ago, to GA and FA status! That is awesome. I remember when I created it I thought it might never amount to anything more than a stub. I learned so much more reading it just now! bibliomaniac15 04:31, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you very much for creating this article; it gave me the inspiration to expand it, first for the German, and finally also the English version. I' glad you enjoyed it. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 15:19, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

April 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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	104B	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	21B	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	316B	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 [9] 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

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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Enwebb (talk) 19:40, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

April–May 2020 GAN Backlog drive

		The Invisible Barnstar
		Thank you for completing 3 reviews in the April–May 2020 GAN Backlog drive. Your work helped us to reduce the backlog by over 60%. Regards, Harrias talk 08:09, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

June/July 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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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Delivered on behalf of Enwebb (talk) 16:33, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

Opisthocoelicaudia

This is to let you know that the above article has been scheduled as today's featured article for September 18, 2020. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 18, 2020. Congratulations on your work!—Wehwalt (talk) 18:51, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

August 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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. 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?

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

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

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

Süntel Formation

Hi Jens, I have created the Süntel Formation article, which I thought was long overdue. I know that in your capacity as an academic you have done research at the Langenberg Quarry which is the main locality for this formation, just thought I would let you know. Kind regards. Hemiauchenia (talk) 19:01, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Nice, thank you for the article! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:50, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

October 2020 GAN Backlog drive!

-- Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 16:24, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

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In appreciation

By the authority vested in me by myself it gives me great pleasure to present you with this barnstar once more in recognition of your unceasing efforts to improve and promote articles on dinosaurs. It is appreciated. Gog the Mild (talk) 16:03, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

Many thanks, Gog, you are too kind! Thank you, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 18:27, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

Beaver

Hi, would you be able to return to FAC. LittleJerry (talk) 15:36, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

Yeah sorry, I left you my notes so far, will hopefully be back soon with more. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:59, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

New message from Jo-Jo Eumerus

Hello, Jens Lallensack. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Quelccaya Ice Cap/archive1.
Message added 10:02, 30 December 2020 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 10:02, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

In appreciation

		The Reviewers Award
		By the authority vested in me by myself it gives me great pleasure to present you with this award in recognition of the thorough, detailed and actionable reviews you have carried out at FAC. This work is very much appreciated. Gog the Mild (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Average FAC reviews per FAC nomination of 8.6! Way to go. Gog the Mild (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Thank you, Gog, this is very kind of you! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:52, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

Argentinosaurus scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that the Argentinosaurus article has been scheduled as today's featured article for April 13, 2021. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 13, 2021, but note that a coordinator will trim the lead to around 1000 characters anyway, so you aren't obliged to do so.

For Featured Articles promoted recently, there will be an existing blurb linked from the FAC talk page, which is likely to be transferred to the TFA page by a coordinator at some point.

We suggest that you watchlist Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors from the day before this appears on Main Page. Thanks! Jimfbleak - talk to me? 14:16, 14 March 2021 (UTC)

Argentinosaurus

Hello, I just wanted to briefly thank you for your work on today's featured article. As a native of the Neuquén Province, it was something pretty cool to see on the main page. Amazing job!--GDuwenHoller! 20:46, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, happy to hear that! We wrote two more from Neuquén Province that had already been on the main page: Carnotaurus and Amargasaurus. Another one, Bajadasaurus, is currently at WP:FAC. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 23:27, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Precious anniversary

Precious

Four years!

On Earth Day, singing Psalm 115 ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:18, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

Thank you today for Bajadasaurus, introduced: "A quite spectacular dinosaur, described only recently." - I found yesterday's Main page spectacular, with 4 bolded names I brought there, all in memory: nominating the TFA, the pictured DYK, and two under Recent deaths. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:10, 31 August 2021 (UTC)

Thank you, and thanks for all your good work,too! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 07:21, 31 August 2021 (UTC)

Thank you and the team today for Acamptonectes, introduced: "This article is the first "official" WP:WikiProject Palaeontology collaboration, and the first FAC about an ichthyosaur, a group of prehistoric marine reptiles which were convergently similar to dolphins. Having been named relatively recently, not much has been published on it (not even a size estimate), so most info available about it is summarised here."! - Modest DYK contribution on the same page Protestant Church, Borgholzhausen, a place of memories - more on my talk. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:20, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

Promotion of Bajadasaurus

Congratulations, Jens Lallensack! The article you nominated, Bajadasaurus, has been promoted to featured status, recognizing it as one of the best articles on Wikipedia. The nomination discussion has been archived.

This is a rare accomplishment and you should be proud. If you would like, you may nominate it to appear on the Main page as Today's featured article. Keep up the great work! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) via FACBot (talk) 00:06, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

Criteria for the Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mammals

Hi and good afternoon @Jens Lallensack:, the question for the criteria that i responded back to you was including mammals that became extinct/extirpated earlier than 1500 AD in each country or any kind of region in either Ancient History, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman Times, or whatever timeframe but early in written history specifically. If that ever gets established to which i hope for, then the one you said about keeping the cut-off date which is 1500 AD for the list of mammals articles will never be the old criteria ever again and instead, the "new" criteria would include mammals that formerly inhabited certain types of regions or countries during either the Iron Age, Bronze Age, Ancient History, Post-classical times, Roman Times or whatever timeframe but early in written history and then you would have no choice but learning to adapt with the change. The question to you is why would you support for the cut-off date for 1500 AD? You know i'll tell you something, i don't like when one says that he or she is supporting for that particular date and i feel that there needs to be a significant change and the criteria too if you will, if that ever happens one day like i said, then too bad you would be out of luck. Sorry for sounding a little mean but anyways i hope that the answer that i responded to your question at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mammals helped a lot. Best Regards. -- Animalworlds314 (talk) 21:32, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Will answer on the WikiProject page. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:40, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

GAN Backlog Drive - July 2021

Good article nominations | July 2021 Backlog Drive
July 2021 Backlog Drive: This Thursday, July 1, a one-month backlog drive for good article nominations will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number, length, and age, of articles reviewed. Interested in taking part? You can sign up here.
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You're receiving this message because you have conducted 10+ good article reviews or participated in the March backlog drive. Click here to opt out of any future messages. --Usernameunique

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:31, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Bajadasaurus scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that the above article has been scheduled as today's featured article for 31 August, 2021. Please check that the article needs no amendments. A coordinator will draft a blurb - based on your draft if the TFA came via TFA requests, or from an existing blurb on the FAC talk page if one has been posted. Feel free to comment on this. We suggest that you watchlist Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors from the day before this appears on Main Page. Thanks and congratulations on your work. Gog the Mild (talk) 16:01, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

Acamptonectes

This is to let you know that the above article has been scheduled as today's featured article for September 18, 2021. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 18, 2021. Congratulations on your work!—Wehwalt (talk) 13:53, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

I'd appreciate a third party opinion on the esoteric debates forming in Kwami's review

This could go on forever. Serendi^podous 18:27, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Heh. Turns out I was wrong. Serendi^podous 19:12, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Turtle peer review

Would you be able to do a source spotcheck staring with the section "Distribution and habitat"? Thanks. LittleJerry (talk) 00:48, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

OK, will try to free some time and have a look. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 06:28, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

So do you think it is ready for re-nomination? LittleJerry (talk) 20:24, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

I personally think it is, yes. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:34, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

Frederick the Featured (maybe, that is...)

Now that we are done with the Featured article review, I feel it is okay to share my feelings about the process with you. I just want to say that I really appreciate you taking the time to be a Featured Article reviewer for this article. I want to say, that I appreciate your detail and thoughts. The Frederick article is chock full of those kind of biases, but I try to be conservative in trying to respect the various editor's particular emphasis (e.g., Ritter had three very large sections on the talk page spread over three years). Besides wanting to respect previous editors, removing Droysen, Ranke and Ritter was easy.

I also want to let you know that a bit of my resistance to going into the last years of the Seven Years Wars was to a certain extent, the editing of the military narrative up to that point had wiped me out. I more enjoyed editing the policy section. But for the military writing, I wasn't sure I was up to tackling more. What I had done seemed easy as I saw it more editing, including narrative smoothing, aligning assertions with citations, and finding accessible citations (of course!). But you provided the push to do I, and I agree it was needed. Your insistence made it easy to provide a balance, and I did enjoy doing that! And the review allowed some diffusion responsibility so the de-lionization without necessarily having to engage in an intense edit war. And, more importantly, it does add a certain needed completion to Frederick II's Seven Years War saga, allowing a great number of the battles listed on the map to be mentioned, cited, and linked.

In addition, I wanted to you for your early willingness to compromise on the Bachelor's theses. I recognize that they are not at the level of an article, but here's why I'm committed to them. They are accessible, each struck me as well-written and often as good- and perhaps better researched- than some of the standard biographies. They have a level of detail on minute topics that one can't easily find online, and their assertions seemed well-supported by research. I definitely see the point that they can't stand alone as a citation to support a Wikipedia assertion. But they do strike me as good work that deserve a bit of kudos and provides a resource for interested readers. So, I very much appreciate your willingness to agree to let them stay.

And finally, thank you for your jumping to clean up the small errors (spacing, wording, punctuation) that you saw near the end. (Yesterday, I wondered if those anonymous corrections were yours too. If so, thank you again!) As you can tell, fine copy editing is not my strength, though I'll do what is needed. Again, I appreciate your help, your review, and your overall thoughtfulness. Other reviewers are fortunate to have you constructively critique their work. I know this article, a most likely most you spend the time with, is better because of your role as reviewer. Appreciatively Wtfiv (talk) 21:11, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

Thank you so much – though I think that it is you who deserves all the kudos for working on such an important article. But I am glad that my review was useful. Note, though, that the point with the Bachelor theses was not mine, but that of Nikkimaria. They will be asked in the end to take another look, so it can be that they pick this up again. Best, --Jens Lallensack (talk) 17:01, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Absolutely! If Nikkimaria or other colleagues have issues. I'll do what I can to address their concerns. Like you, they are all seasoned FA reviewers, and this is what the review is for. But I really enjoyed what I sense was your passion for accurate, reliable, and fair information. Without this Wikipedia couldn't continue to be what is is. Returning my compliment back to you: I just want to reiterate- even at the risk of appearing awkward- thank you so much. I see the work from your end! It's a deep sense of "care". Thanks, too, for your reply! Wtfiv (talk) 04:11, 18 September 2021 (UTC)