This is an archive of past discussions with User:Shyamal. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
Hello Shyamal, could you please move Phyzelaphryne back to its species page at Phyzelaphryne miriamae? With the addition of Phyzelaphryne nimio in 2018, this genus is now no longer rercognised as monotypic. The species page is currently a redirect with minimal page history. Once you have completed the move, I will re-write Phyzelaphryne as a stub genus article. Thanks, Loopy30 (talk) 22:00, 4 November 2019 (UTC)
I fear there may be many more of these as it's just an army of frogs or a knot of toads now as I help the Amphibians and Reptiles project convert to automatic taxoboxes. Today's fun includes a request to move Metaphryniscus sosai to its monotypic genus page, which is currently a redirect with minimal page history. Thanks, Loopy30 (talk) 17:34, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks, I was just looking at the page and was going to add{{unsigned}} to a couple of the posts, but couldn't find them in the history. DuncanHill (talk) 22:10, 6 November 2019 (UTC)
Page move request 32
Hello Shyamal, another day, another frog. Could you please also move Ceratobatrachus to Cornufer guentheri? The species Ceratobatrachus guentheri has been reclassified from its previously monotypic genus and is now part of the genus Cornufer. The species page is currently a redirect with minimal page history. Thanks, Loopy30 (talk) 03:29, 6 November 2019 (UTC)
Hi Shyamal- I don't usually edit other people's talkpage posts, but I thought you'd be ok with my change to yours on the Bird talkpage. I wanted to make it more understandable to us non-experts Let me know if you don't agree, and I'll change it back. Erictalk13:33, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
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.
Google Code-In 2019 is coming - please mentor some documentation tasks!
Hello,
Google Code-In, Google-organized contest in which the Wikimedia Foundation participates, starts in a few weeks. This contest is about taking high school students into the world of opensource. I'm sending you this message because you recently edited a documentation page at the English Wikipedia.
I would like to ask you to take part in Google Code-In as a mentor. That would mean to prepare at least one task (it can be documentation related, or something else - the other categories are Code, Design, Quality Assurance and Outreach) for the participants, and help the student to complete it. Please sign up at the contest page and send us your Google account address to google-code-in-admins@lists.wikimedia.org, so we can invite you in!
From my own experience, Google Code-In can be fun, you can make several new friends, attract new people to your wiki and make them part of your community.
If you have any questions, please let us know at google-code-in-admins@lists.wikimedia.org.
Thanks again. Next is a request to move Borneophrys to Megophrys edwardinae. This species (Borneophrys edwardinae) is now once again classified in the genus Megophrys (reference here). At one time, the article was at the common name, but later moved to the scientific as the common name was not unique. Loopy30 (talk) 13:39, 7 December 2019 (UTC)
Shyamal, thank you all for your help in page moves over the last couple of years. I have now received the page-mover permission so I will not have to keep pestering you with so many taxonomic page move requests. Loopy30 (talk) 12:10, 8 December 2019 (UTC)
I'd like to thank you today as part of Katherine Maher's call for Thank A Wikipedian day on the occasion of Wikipedia's 19th birthday. Prad2609 (talk) 15:51, 15 January 2020 (UTC)
Following a request for comment, partial blocks are now enabled on the English Wikipedia. This functionality allows administrators to block users from editing specific pages or namespaces rather than the entire site. A draft policy is being workshopped at Wikipedia:Partial blocks.
The request for comment seeking the community's sentiment for a binding desysop procedure closed with wide-spread support for an alternative desysoping procedure based on community input. No proposed process received consensus.
Technical news
Twinkle now supports partial blocking. There is a small checkbox that toggles the "partial" status for both blocks and templating. There is currently one template: {{uw-pblock}}.
When trying to move a page, if the target title already exists then a warning message is shown. The warning message will now include a link to the target title. [3]
Arbitration
Following a recent arbitration case, the Arbitration Committee reminded administrators that checkuser and oversight blocks must not be reversed or modified without prior consultation with the checkuser or oversighter who placed the block, the respective functionary team, or the Arbitration Committee.
Sweden report: FindingGLAMs Challenge; Art by Edvard Munch from the Thiel Gallery; More European archives on Wikidata; OpenGLAM now! – watch the presentations; Wikipedia in Libraries
Hi, feel free to add your entries to this or whatever region is it for what you've created, there is a Canadian list too! ♦ Dr. Blofeld17:09, 26 February 2020 (UTC)
Pink-headed duck protection
I was flummoxed to see that Pink-headed Duck is extended-confirmed protected. This is a mistake, right?
oops my typeface on the page is so small i was trying to revert an adjacent item on my watch list - trust all is well seems like a long time since we last spoke JarrahTree13:34, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
@JarrahTree: - no worries! Hope you are doing well. Seems like you were planning to attend the Bangkok meet. I decided not to and it was not because of the coronavirus but more to do with the dreariness of large metropolises. Shyamal (talk) 13:37, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
complicated - indeed the dreariness is one thing I agree, the predictability of the same issue whether jakarta and delhi (my most resent experiences) - all the same issues are hardly inviting to say the least JarrahTree13:41, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
Dawson Turner
hello @Shyamal
I think you may have made a mistake when updating Dawson Turner recently: you have said he married Gretna Green, replacing the previous statement that his second wife was Rosamund Duff.
It might be worth giving an indication as to why Dalton and Rosamund's marriage was contracted in a place renowned for irregular runaway marriages. I almost missed this one when I read the page casually yesterday ... then suddenly my subconscious pinged me "... Gretna? ... that's an unusual name!" :) -- jw (talk) 07:15, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
Dear sir,
I am new here and recently I create an article in my draftspace about a female leader and when it get completed I tried to move it to article page but there someone previously uses her name and redirects her name to new name (his husband's name).
Dear sir,
I have a small request, I don't know how to rename a page.
So, please sir rename it from Heena Sahab to Heena Shahab or move it.
Please respond. Sturdyankit (talk) 05:31, 27 March 2020 (UTC)
Thank you today for what you added to Francis Willughby, introduced by Jim: "I live about 20 miles from Willughby's former home, and the publication of two major books in the last few years made it a no-brainer to write about the "first true ornithologist"." - Proud to share the page, with Jessye Norman, Naomi Munakata and Jennifer Bate, a bit of a sad record. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:17, 29 March 2020 (UTC)
I've just come across this new article you're creating, and can see that a similar article exists in French Wikipedia - but note that neither have any references at all at present. Have you come across any that would fit?
If not, I'll send it over to WP:PRUSSIA and WP:RUSSIA to try and see if one of the subject experts there has any citations for it.
Thanks for the tip, I have just seen the Cyrillic version of his name and will try and improve the English article. Shyamal (talk) 11:18, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
Rungiah
Thank you for your message re Rungiah - I have a special fondness for botanical illustration and have long wondered why the article had not been created. I see that you have uploaded some of Rungiah's work to Commons and the thought occurs that you might have more biographical material than is easily found on the net cheers Paul venter (talk) 15:18, 21 April 2020 (UTC)
Hmm, I do know an expert on Rungiah, Dr Henry Noltie of RBG Edinburgh, unfortunately I do not think there is much apart from the artwork, and perhaps payments made by Wight to him, but I can check if there is more that Noltie has published (or induce him to publish so that we can cite it!). Shyamal (talk) 17:12, 21 April 2020 (UTC)
That would be great - I have seen adverts for his proposed books all over the web. Thank you for the headsup re the genus Rungia - I have corrected it - enormous coincidence of names! Paul venter (talk) 07:51, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
@Paul venter: You can contact him at HNoltie@rbge.org.uk - what proposed books? I think there is some coverage in the 2nd of the 3 volume Wight books - but I cannot access it (and not for a good while now). Shyamal (talk) 10:21, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
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
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.
... 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 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 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 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)
@Powstini: The place to put in mere translations of the name in other languages is Wikidata. If you want to include it in English, you must include the English transliteration with sourced IPA (phonetic) if possible, it must have something more to be said about it, for instance what it means or how the name is derived, and of course with reliable sources. Remember that we are writing for English readers and those who are critical enough not to trust anything unless a proper citation is given. Names in Wikidata corresponding to specific Indian languages in the native script are essential to assist discovery of content but it is of no value if you add them like a dictionary out here on the English Wikipedia. You can also discuss this with a wider set of bird article editors at WT:BIRD if you like. Shyamal (talk) 07:52, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
Also, not in the lead, which is for a summary of the article. And lead sections should not need references. If you read the article you will find that it already had the content you added with good sources cited - ie not a website of BNHS which is going to decay in a few years into a dead link. Shyamal (talk) 07:56, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
Response to above : Thanks. Good that standardised norms will be applied. Noted that the did-he-do etc also vanished. Just want to make the point that the largest number of English users will be, if are not already, Indian or of Indian origin. Unless Wikidata floats over there for ready reference it will remain an obscure well of unaccessed information, while adding a few more lines in the online digital text will not hurt. Hope the norms will take account of the fact.
- Powstini — Preceding unsigned comment added by Powstini (talk • contribs) 09:08, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
@Powstini: Wikidata is used by Google in its searches, the info box on the right-hand side for instance, so no it is not obscure for those who know the digital information landscape. You can think of it as a semantic multi-lingual card index to content across the multiple language Wikipedias (and external databases too). Shyamal (talk) 09:16, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
Courtship and breeding of crane
Hi, this image described it as courtship and a biologist with whom I revised did not notice any mistake. is what is written there correct in your opinion? I noticed you kept the image in that paragraph so I would like to know if there is some room for improvement or not. Thanks.--Alexmar983 (talk) 20:14, 14 June 2020 (UTC)
@Alexmar983: What is written there seems to be lifted from somewhere. This is more likely a case of unison calling or duetting but not courtship which happens at a prior stage and involves more posturing in a common direction. The bird on the left with wing half open is a male. This information (after a recheck of that image) is from User:Sarusscape who is a specialist on sarus cranes and their ecology. I am afraid that image is rather mediocre in composition, with oversaturation of colour, and poor metadata, so much so that I had half a mind to remove it. That article can only have a small number of chosen images - we have far better images on commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Grus_antigoneShyamal (talk) 03:31, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
I got no ping... in any case, I am not talking about the text, I asked if it was courtship, the rest of the description is clearly filling. In any case, I liked it more than other images in the category because when you scroll them even if small it actually looks less confusing when little. In many other ones the birds are so close I have to enlarge to get a better idea... and I asked to a formerly wildlife biologist her opinion as well, but she was not an expert of birds. To me the image was not far away from the text which in fact starts with a reminder of the trumpeting calls (and there is no trumpeting in the galery of "Pair behaviour"), so it looked reasonable, that's it.
BTW, do as you like. If you want I can put a more balanced double image as well, with the image of trachea on the left, the image of trumpeting (whatever that will be at the end) alligned on the right. It would help to see the bird doing this trumpeting.--Alexmar983 (talk) 07:26, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
Obviously I do not own the article and will let things stay as it is since the caption is right now good enough, the image is not disrupting text and is in the right place. Shyamal (talk) 10:09, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
Mugger croc
Hi Shyamal : I hope you are healthy !! You may have noticed that I updated Mugger crocodile in past few days. Do you have time for a look whether the page qualifies for being rated as B-class now? -- BhagyaMani (talk) 06:50, 16 June 2020 (UTC) BhagyaMani (talk) 10:09, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
Hi BhagyaMani - I have had a brief browse, I think the article could do with a cultural section, perhaps anatomical and parasites/disease sections too. The distribution info is a bit odd, the species is far more widely distributed than just in rivers. Many mid-sized lakes across India have them. As far as referencing goes I guess it does qualify for B. Shyamal (talk) 08:08, 24 June 2020 (UTC)
Thanks for looking at the page and for your changes. I fully agree that Baloch name is not important for lead. I thought of expanding and nominating it for GA later this year, once it has passed the rating for B-class. -- BhagyaMani (talk) 09:59, 24 June 2020 (UTC)
The article does not have space for too many images. Coming to the misinformation - how did you sex the bird? Both males and females take part in raising chicks. Intrusive nest photography is generally unethical. Also what informational or encyclopedic value is the image actually adding to the article text? Shyamal (talk) 04:24, 26 June 2020 (UTC)
Shyamal, ya, I accept that the sex determination might have been wrong. but, I observed them since laying eggs, so I was able to roughly distinguish them. and even if its wrong, it could have been rectified instead of removing the shole photo. this single photo showed the egg, chick and the adult, so I added. it will help people understand better. and there was no intrusion. the bird laid eggs in the balcony, next to my window, in a flowerpot. I clicked it from the window, without disturbing. ❯❯❯ S A H A04:59, 26 June 2020 (UTC)
Ok, I am happy to hear that the image was not taken intrusively. There are however a large number of spotted dove images on Commons already and in order to make your image work it needs more information. Your image is also essentially valueless without location where the image was taken - a date would also be worth adding since the EXIF is missing and it is not clear if upload date is the same as photography date. I have assumed from the category that this was taken in Kolkata, which would confirm the subspecies as suratensis and have removed an older image of the nest to accomodate yours. Shyamal (talk) 05:28, 26 June 2020 (UTC)
Hi, just to note that {{Automatic taxobox}} requires |taxon=. If you instead put |genus= or |familia=, for example, these parameters are completely ignored and the system uses the page title instead, so the taxobox usually appears to work (but wouldn't if the title was an English name or the page was moved). Also you don't need |name= unless it is different from the taxon name. Peter coxhead (talk) 08:49, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
Many thanks for deleting that draft.What happened was my fault for not including references when I created the article.When I went back to it a short while later it had been renamed for what it was a draft.It took a while to sort this out but all is well again.Soon I will see what I can do about your missing entomologists lists.One or two now and again.Very kind wishes Robert aka Notafly (talk) 19:38, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
Ps Did you see Sander Rang who after appalling suffering on the raft of the Medusa (much worse than being frightened of Covid) went on with life to achieve very much.His wife was an artist so there must be a painting of him but where? The French have a very keen interest in their culture and there are many sources of information and I have contacts. So far no portrait of this deservedly famous figure.
Hey Shyamal , May I have your kimd attention .I have been improving articles of my hometown .In that sequence I tried to improve an article of St. Xavier's School, Behror which was in older version wrongly redirecting to St. Xavier's School, Jaipur , After sometime these were reverted by some admin from Ireland User:The Banner on basis that St. Xavier's Behror is a part of St. xavier's Jaipur which it isn't but both are under DSJ equivalent institutions .But he is admant on this on a misquote in Times Of India article even when Another legal proofs were provided . I would like to draw you in that discussion since you are local to India and will be more able to understand hindi artICles as well .I invite you on the deletion review page .Please accept the request .I respect Wikipedia's community policies and I contributed keenly witj time I would not like to go that waste .Since I read beforehand Wikipedia Policies . And also a suggestion for any deletion page there must be an admin with local knowledge on that page .
Link to deletion Page ----
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/St._Xavier%27s_School,_Behror_(2nd_nomination)राकेश5678 (talk) 02:41, 12 July 2020 (UTC)User: राकेश578 8:09 , 12 July 2020 (GMT+5:30).
I can only suggest that you find reliable sources, perhaps government documents, annual school reports etc. Shyamal (talk) 03:56, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
Yes I have provided those at Deletion Review page .Can you have a look on links provided at the deletion review page Please . राकेश5678 (talk) 04:24, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
There is a govt document on that page by admin who accepts that and made retain comment but don't know Why The Banner user is hell bent on rejecting anything ...Even the another admin accepted that page must be there .You might provide local nuanve there राकेश5678 (talk) 04:26, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
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?
... 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 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 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 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 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 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)
On August 7, WikiProject Palaeontology member Rextron discovered a suspicious taxon article, Mustelodon, which was created in November 2005. The article lacked references and the subsequent discussion on WikiProject Palaeontology found that the alleged type locality (where the fossil was first discovered) of Lago Nandarajo "near the northern border of Panama" was nonexistent. In fact, Panama does not even really have a northern border, as it is bounded along the north by the Caribbean Sea. No other publications or databases mentioned Mustelodon, save a fleeting mention in a 2019 book that presumably followed Wikipedia, Felines of the World.
The article also appeared in four other languages, Catalan, Spanish, Dutch, and Serbian. In Serbian Wikipedia, a note at the bottom of the page warned: "It is important to note here that there is no data on this genus in the official scientific literature, and all attached data on the genus Mustelodon on this page are taken from the English Wikipedia and are the only known data on this genus of mammals, so the validity of this genus is questionable."
Editors took action to alert our counterparts on other projects, and these versions were removed also. As the editor who reached out to Spanish and Catalan Wikipedia, it was somewhat challenging to navigate these mostly foreign languages (I have a limited grasp of Spanish). I doubted that the article had very many watchers, so I knew I had to find some WikiProjects where I could post a machine translation advising of the hoax, and asking that users follow local protocols to remove the article. I was surprised to find, however, that Catalan Wikipedia does not tag articles for WikiProjects on talk pages, meaning I had to fumble around to find what I needed (turns out that WikiProjects are Viquiprojectes in Catalan!) Mustelodon remains on Wikidata, where its "instance of" property was swapped from "taxon" to "fictional taxon".
How did this article have such a long lifespan? Early intervention is critical for removing hoaxes. A 2016 report found that a hoax article that survives its first day has an 18% chance of lasting a year.[1] Additionally, hoax articles tend to have longer lifespans if they are in inconspicuous parts of Wikipedia, where they do not receive many views. Mustelodon was only viewed a couple times a day, on average.
Mustelodon survived a brush with death three years into its lifespan. The article was proposed for deletion in September 2008, with a deletion rationale of "No references given; cannot find any evidence in peer-reviewed journals that this alleged genus actually exists". Unfortunately, the proposed deletion was contested and the template removed, though the declining editor did not give a rationale. Upon its rediscovery in August 2020, Mustelodon was tagged for speedy deletion under CSD G3 as a "blatant hoax". This was challenged, and an Articles for Deletion discussion followed. On 12 August, the AfD was closed as a SNOW delete. WikiProject Palaeontology members ensured that any trace of it was scrubbed from legitimate articles. The fictional mammal was finally, truly extinct.
At the ripe old age of 14 years, 9 months, this is the longest-lived documented hoax on Wikipedia, topping the previous documented record of 14 years, 5 months, set by The Gates of Saturn, a fictitious television show, which was incidentally also discovered in August 2020. How do we discover other hoax taxa? Could we use Wikidata to discover taxa are not linked to databases like ITIS, Fossilworks, and others?
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.
... 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 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)
Hello. In March 2019, you did a lot of work on this article. You remove a composite image showing a unique behaviour without any explanation. Can you please explain why you have chosen to reduce the EV of this article. The composite image was 1st National Finalist in the Wiki Science Competition 2017, United Kingdom. Charlesjsharp (talk) 16:13, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
@Charlesjsharp: Hi! I have just reviewed those edits and if I remember right the composite was using rather too much screen area and decided that just one of the images could be retained mainly to illustrate immature plumage as that was mentioned in the text. I do not think the version of the article I saw said much about the behaviour or cited sources. I would not mind one bit if you chose a different image from the composite set, but I would think having the whole composite gallery would be a bit too much to include. Shyamal (talk) 17:07, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
I don't think screen width is a criteria for article content. As it is new behaviour, there are no sources. The behaviour is described, but there is no OR. I don't think you should take on the role of censor. Where can we get other opinions? Charlesjsharp (talk) 17:26, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
We don't need opinions on the EV of the set. I've spoken to one of the World's recognized experts on Oriental Birds and he doesn't know. Surely we need an admin to rule on your reasons for deleting the image to stop what could become an edit war? Charlesjsharp (talk) 08:05, 26 August 2020 (UTC)
I am really not sure what you are seeking. I would think that if you want allow large sets of images in galleries dedicated to show specific behaviours, then having a guideline for it at the Wikipedia project for birds would be the place so that other editors can follow the same rules and not remove large galleries. If it goes beyond birds, then the WP:MOS for gallery usage might need amendment. I am certainly not going to go about edit warring, but if you wish to complain about my removal of it then perhaps WP:ANI is the venue. Shyamal (talk) 08:25, 26 August 2020 (UTC)
Hi there Shyamal. I see you've been taking care of the Pollination syndrome page. I came across this page on zoophily: the thing is, it's largely about therophily specifically, with a little bit on bats and lizards (that I want to verify for accuracy at a certain point). I was thinking about stripping 'pollination syndrome' of text to move there to balance that article, and then to add 'main article' templates to 'pollination syndrome'. Zoophily is about insects 99% of the time, but they are barely mentioned in that article. I also thought about renaming zoophily to therophily, but that is more complicated, as then zoophily would incorrectly redirect, links would be broken, etc.
Thanks for reply. I'll put something at the talk page too before I really get to chopping. I want the 'pollination syndrome' article to be about the syndromes displayed by flowers, everything else can go to the other article. Cheers, Leo Breman (talk) 11:37, 20 September 2020 (UTC)
Hello from Portland OR: I am writing a biographical WP page for a mammal parasitologist (shark,ray) named Janine Caira. Some of the biographical information I can access comes from a testimonial award presentation. The author, a fellow member of the American Society of Parasitology, quotes other academics and members. I am sure this is quite common and for the most part, mostly personal opinion. Do statements like:
inspirational
enthusiastic
encourages collaboration
advocates for students
generosity with her time
welcoming
tireless work ethic
attention to detail
patience
skills at observation
“can do”: whether it is collecting stingrays in the caiman-infested waters of the Brazilian Pantanal or in the potentially more troublesome environment of university and academic politics. Janine's courageousness set an example for the rest of us.
have any place in a WP page? The adulation can be found elsewhere (other awards) from other society members and academics who have nothing to gain by speaking out
Thanks, GaryCafe.doppio (talk) 20:03, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
@Cafe.doppio: - Hi Gary - for living persons, I would most certainly drop out adjectives describing personality (even if correct, since an encyclopedia is meant to be informative, not promotional) but would be ok using them for deceased subjects described in full-fledged biographies since these sources tend to provide evidence for any claimed personality traits. Best to examine the style indicated by GA and FA biographies on Wikipedia as well as the guidelines in Wikipedia:WikiProject_BiographyShyamal (talk) 03:32, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
Thanks very much for the guidance. Update: I have received a resumé from the candidate. It has things like Univ of Connecticut served on and/or chaired more than 100 departmental, college, and university-wide committees 1985-2020. I cannot verify this on any UConn site but her peer accolades make me doubt fraudulence. Must I omit it? As noted above, academic peers from other universities have publicly attested to similar accomplishments (award dinner professional society with published journal account)Cafe.doppio (talk) 00:28, 16 November 2020 (UTC)
@Cafe.doppio: again please see WP:RS - secondary and tertiary sources from independent third-parties are always held above primary sources. Please discuss with your course coordinator as these are extremely basic foundations. Shyamal (talk) 03:38, 16 November 2020 (UTC)
@Mukeshmishra.in: Have added some links on your talk page to familiarize yourself with Wikipedia editing. Note that in general, there is a limit to the number of images that an article can hold so those that add encyclopaedic value or illustrate content are preferred and others will be removed. Wikipedia is not a photo gallery. You have obviously uploaded correctly but in future it is best to directly upload at https://commons.wikimedia.org/ (known as Wikimedia Commons - so as to serve all language Wikipedias_ and your image can be found at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MukeshMishra-Indian-darter-Bangalore.jpg - in order to use the same image you need to use [[File:MukeshMishra-Indian-darter-Bangalore.jpg|thumb|Caption]] in normal cases but template usage requires the "File:" to be dropped. You can read up more in the links given. My user name is my real name. Shyamal (talk) 06:51, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
.jpg)
_Tswalu_(cropped).jpg)
_Gazella_tilonura.png)
.jpg)
