Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Newsletter/015

File:Tree of life by Haeckel.jpg

;{{big|June and July 2020—Issue 015}}

;{{huge|Tree of Life}}

;Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

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|+Newly recognized content

{{icon|FA}} Canada lynx by {{noping|Sainsf}}

{{icon|FA}} Gigantorhynchus by {{noping|Mattximus}}

{{icon|FA}} Leech by {{noping|LittleJerry|Chiswick Chap| Cwmhiraeth}}

{{icon|FA}} Orangutan by {{noping|LittleJerry}}

{{icon|FA}} Secretarybird by {{noping|LittleJerry|Aa77zz|Casliber}}

{{icon|FA}} Vermilion flycatcher by {{noping|CaptainEek}}

{{icon|GA}} Bat virome by {{noping|Enwebb}}, reviewed by {{noping|Chidgk1}}

{{icon|GA}} Doedicurus by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}, reviewed by {{noping|Hog Farm}}

{{icon|GA}} Dwarf dog-faced bat by {{noping|Enwebb}}, reviewed by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GA}} Echinodon by {{noping|IJReid}}, reviewed by {{noping|JurassicClassic767}}

{{icon|GA}} Edvard August Vainio by {{noping|Esculenta}}, reviewed by {{noping|ChiswickCahp}}

{{icon|GA}} Hammer-headed bat by {{noping|Enwebb}}, reviewed by {{noping|Jens Lallensack}}

{{icon|GA}} Homo rudolfensis by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}, reviewed by {{noping|JurassicClassic767}}

{{icon|GA}} Nina Demme by {{noping|SusunW}}, reviewed by {{noping|Enwebb}}

{{icon|GA}} Northern crested newt by {{noping|Tylototriton}}, reviewed by {{noping|Enwebb}}

{{icon|GA}} Pterodactylus by {{noping|JurassicClassic767}}, reviewed by {{noping|ChiswickCahp}}

{{icon|GA}} Zebra by {{noping|LittleJerry}}, reviewed by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

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|+Newly nominated content

{{icon|FAC}} Horseshoe bat by {{noping|Enwebb}}

{{icon|FAC}} Siamosaurus by {{noping|PaleoGeekSquared}}

{{icon|FAC}} Zebra by {{noping|LittleJerry}}

{{icon|GAN}} Australopithecus afarensis by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Australopithecus africanus by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Australopithecus bahrelghazali by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Australopithecus deyiremeda by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Australopithecus sediba by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Bonelli's eagle by {{noping|Sandhillcrane}}

{{icon|GAN}} Great flying fox by {{noping|Enwebb}}

{{icon|GAN}} Homo habilis by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Markham's storm petrel by {{noping|Therapyisgood}}

{{icon|GAN}} Ornithocheiridae by {{noping|JurassicClassic767}}

{{icon|GAN}} Paranthropus aethiopicus by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Paranthropus boisei by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Paranthropus robustus by {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}}

{{icon|GAN}} Tatenectes by {{noping|Slate Weasel}}

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| style="text-align:center;" | 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: {{noping|Dunkleosteus77}} and {{noping|Sainsf}}
A [https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0228713 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.

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| style="text-align:center;" | Categorizing life with DexDor

{{noping|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.

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| style="text-align:center;" | June DYKs

{{main page image|image=Osmia calaminthae visiting flower of Calamintha ashei, Lake Placid, Highlands County, Florida.jpg|caption=Blue calamintha bee|width=160 }}

{{main page image|image=Staphylococcus aureus.jpeg|caption=Culture of S. aureus|width=120 |ALT=petri dish showing whitish culture }}

{{main page image|image=Cecropia pachystachya.jpg|caption=Ambay pumpwood|width=x160}}

{{main page image|image=The book of antelopes (1894) Gazella tilonura.png|caption=Heuglin's gazelle|width=120 }}

{{main page image|image=Lithodytes lineatus01.jpg|caption=Gold-striped frog|width=160}}

... 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)

{{gallery

|align=center

|width=130

|height= 130

|noborder=yes

|Morus serrator - Dunalley.jpg|Australasian gannet

|Corrupto.png|C. brasiliensis, a species
in the C. major complex

|Antipathes dendrochristos.jpg|Deep-sea Antipathes dendrochristos

|Strawberries and Cream Tree.jpg|Strawberries and Cream Tree
in full bloom in April 2020

|Proceratophrys boiei01b.jpg|Boie's frog

}}

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| style="text-align:center;" | July DYKs

{{main page image|image=ChrysotisChloronotaKeulemans (cropped).jpg|caption=Amazon parrot|width=120}}

{{main page image|image=Pterodactylus BMMS7 life.png|caption=Life reconstruction of Pterodactylus antiquus|width=x110}}

... 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)

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