Wikipedia:Peer review/Cyclura nubila/archive1

This peer review discussion has been closed.

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because I think it's almost ready if not 100% ready for Featured Article Status, I have found that Peer Review helps prep for that process and I may be too close to the subject to know what may be lacking in the article to a typical reader. Thanks, Mike - Μολὼν λαβέ 19:53, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Comments from Ealdgyth (talk · contribs)

• You said you wanted to know what to work on before taking to FAC, so I looked at the sourcing and referencing with that in mind. I reviewed the article's sources as I would at FAC.
  • Current ref 1 needs a last access date.
  • Is current ref 10 (Frantom, Todd, 2005. Cuban Sanctuary. All Hands, June 2005) a book or a magazine article? I can't tell because nothing is italicized like the rest of the references. If it's a book/magazine it needs page numbers.
  • Same problem with current ref 22 (Christian, K. A. 1986. Aspects of the life history of Cuban Iguanas on Isla Magueyes, Puerto Rico. Caribbean Journal of Science, 22, 159–164)
  • Current ref 14 .. the isbn is invalid. It is this book, correct?
  • Current ref 18 lacks a publisher. Also the page here is blank. Has the page moved?
  • Publisher on current ref 17 isn't "Iguana Specialist Group" but the ICN page
  • Is current ref 24 a book? Animal Behavior is a journal, isn't it?

Hope this helps. Please note that I don't watchlist Peer Reviews I've done. If you have a question about something, you'll have to drop a note on my talk page to get my attention. (My watchlist is already WAY too long, adding peer reviews would make things much worse.) 18:19, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Finetooth comments: This is interesting and generally well-done. It needs further work to prepare for FAC, but the job shouldn't be overwhelming. Here are my suggestions.

• The images need alt text. You can check these via the alt-text viewer at the top of this review page. Alt text is meant for readers who can't see the images, and it differs from captions meant for sighted readers. Alt text is now a requirement at FAC. WP:ALT has details.
• The link in citation 19 is dead. You might be able to recover it via the Wayback Machine.

Fixed

• It's generally better to have directional images facing into the page rather than out. You can't do anything about the direction of the lead image, but the other two (Prague Zoo and Labem Zoo) could be moved to make the lizards face into the page.

At one time I did that with all my articles, but some other reviewer told me that it was distracting and all should be aligned to one side. I like your advice better, we'll see how it goes at FAC

Some editors prefer to put all their images on the right, but nothing requires it. I don't think anyone at FAC will make the left-right business an issue, but WP:MOS#Images could be cited in support of left-right variety: "It is often preferable to place images of faces so that the face or eyes look toward the text. Multiple images in the same article can be staggered right-and-left... ". Lots of FA articles use varied left-right arrangements. Finetooth (talk) 23:55, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Lead

• "It makes its home within or in close proximity to prickly-pear cacti." - "They make their home..." since the pronoun seems to refer to "females" in the preceding sentence?

I rephrased that a bit as it read back confusing...both sexes do this...rock iguanas and ctenosaurs dig "burrows" to hide in at night time, Cyclura nubila tends to dig theirs close to cacti or even within the cactus itself. Nest sites are different as they are dug in the sand close to crocodile nests.

• "recovery is ongoing by means of in-situ and ex-situ captive-breeding and headstarting conservation programs." - What is the meaning of "headstarting"? Would it be better to delete "headstarting" here or maybe to explain it here rather than in a lower section?

Done

Taxonomy

• The formal name of the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana is given as Cyclura lewisi the first time and as Cyclura nubila lewisi the second time. Should nubila be added to the first instance?

No, C.n.lewisi is the older outdated taxon for the Blue Iguana when it was considered a subspecies, C. lewisi is the newest giving it full species status.--Mike - Μολὼν λαβέ 18:49, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

• "After years of research comparing scale counts on the heads of Caribbean iguanas, including those found on Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Grand Cayman, Cuba, and the Bahamas, as well as mitochondrial DNA analysis performed by Dr. Catherine Malone of Texas A&M University to re-examine the phylogeography of the different species revealed this original classification to be inaccurate and currently only one subspecies is recognized: the Lesser Caymans iguana (Cyclura nubila caymeanensis)." - Too complex. You might want to re-cast this as two sentences.
• Wikipedia doesn't use the title "Dr." in situations like this but recommends adding a more specific trailing qualifier; e.g., Catherine Malone, a biologist from... or whatever description is most appropriate. WP:CREDENTIAL has an explanation.

Fixed

Anatomy and morphology

• "These lizards compensate for this... " - Perhaps "poor low-light vision" instead of "this"?

Fixed

• "This ability is highly useful when basking so the animal can ensure that it absorbs enough sunlight in the forms of UVA and UVB to produce vitamin D." - "Ability" seems to refer to "sharp color vision". I think the intent is to say that the double cones absorb UVA and UVB. Perhaps the sentence should be recast along these lines: "The double cones are highly useful when the animal basks, because they absorb enough sunlight in the forms of UVA and UVB to produce vitamin D."

Fixed

Distribution

• "information about the number of distinct subpopulations of Cuban iguanas is unable to be determined" - Tighten by changing "is unable to be" to "cannot be"?

fixed

Recovery efforts

• "The program proved successful with the iguanas reacting to predators, foraging for food, and behaving like their wild-born counterparts." - "With" doesn't make a very good conjunction. Suggestion: "The program proved successful when the iguanas reacted to predators, foraged for food, and behaved like their wild-born counterparts."

fixed

References

• Dates in the citations should all be formatted in the same way, either m-d-y or d-m-y or yyyy-mm-dd but not a mixture. I see all three variations in the existing citations.
• "Alberts, A. & Perera, A." - Generally, Wikipedia uses "and" rather than the ampersand.
• "Schwartz, A. and Carey, M. (1977). Systematics and evolution in the West Indian iguanid genus Cyclura. Study of Fauna from Curaçao and Caribbean Islands. 53(173):15-97." - Page ranges and date ranges take en dashes rather than hyphens.

I hope these suggestions prove helpful. If so, please consider reviewing another article, especially one from the PR backlog. That is where I found this one. Finetooth (talk) 02:49, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, will work on it!--Mike - Μολὼν λαβέ 18:49, 8 December 2009 (UTC)