User talk:Quetzal1964/Archive 2

Minor typo

Hi, Quetzal1964!

Two days ago, you added years of description to some vespid genera (here); thanks! Unhappily, you happened to type an extra digit for the last year you added; and since I do not have access to your sources, I cannot correct it. Regards, JoergenB (talk) 14:42, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

JoergenB Thanks for spotting that, its corrected now. Quetzal1964 (talk) 19:33, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 January 2020

• From the editor: Reaching six million articles is great, but we need a moratorium

• News and notes: Six million articles on the English language Wikipedia

• Special report: The limits of volunteerism and the gatekeepers of Team Encarta

• In the media: Turkey's back up, but what's happening with Dot-org and a new visual identity?

• Arbitration report: Three cases at ArbCom

• Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2019

• Gallery: Wiki Loves Monuments 2019, we're all winners

• News from the WMF: Capacity Building: Top 5 Themes from Community Conversations

• Community view: Our most important new article since November 1, 2015

• In focus: Cryptos and bitcoins and blockchains, oh no!

• Recent research: How useful is Wikipedia for novice programmers trying to learn computing concepts?

• From the archives: A decade of The Signpost, 2005-2015

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?

• WikiProject report: WikiProject Japan: a wikiProject Report

• Humour: Predicting the 6,000,000th article

• Obituary: Remembering Wikipedia contributor Brian Boulton

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February with Women in Red

February 2020, Volume 6, Issue 2, Numbers 150, 151, 152, 154, 155 Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at Women in Red. Online events: New: Explorers / Black Women / Horror / Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman / Sports! Editor feedback: Schedule planning at the Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 19:31, 28 January 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Great Britain/Ireland Destubathon

Hi. The Wikipedia:The Great Britain/Ireland Destubathon is planned for March 2020, a contest/editathon to eliminate as many stubs as possible from all 134 counties. Amazon vouchers/book prizes are planned for most articles destubbed from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and Northern Ireland and whoever destubs articles from the most counties out of the 134. Sign up on page if interested in participating, hope this will prove to be good fun and productive, we have over 44,000 stubs! I don't know if you work on nature stubs found in the British Isles but as you were so productive in the African Destubathon I thought I should alert you!♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:22, 2 February 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)

Discuss this issue

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Tanager

Hi. Can you improve this? I learned very little about it!♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:45, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

March 2020 at Women in Red

March 2020, Volume 6, Issue 3, Numbers 150, 151, 156, 157, 158, 159 Happy Women's History Month from all of us at Women in Red. Online events: New: Art Activists & Folklore / Aviation / Great Britain & Ireland Photo and image initiative: #VisibleWikiWomen photo initiative Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman / Sports! Editor feedback: Schedule planning at the Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

--Rosiestep (talk) 19:33, 23 February 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 1 March 2020

• From the editor: The ball is in your court

• News and notes: Alexa ranking down to 13th worldwide

• Special report: More participation, more conversation, more pageviews

• In the media: Mapping IP editors, Smithsonian open-access, and coronavirus disinformation

• Discussion report: Do you prefer M or P?

• Arbitration report: Two prominent administrators removed

• By the numbers: How many actions by administrators does it take to clean up spam?

• Community view: The Incredible Invisible Woman

• In focus: History of The Signpost, 2015–2019

• Recent research: Wikipedia generates $50 billion/year consumer surplus in the US alone

• From the archives: Is Wikipedia for sale?

• Traffic report: February articles, floating in the dark

• Gallery: Feel the love

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?

• Op-Ed: What I learned as Wikimedia UK Communications Coordinator

• Opinion: Wikipedia is another country

• Humour: The Wilhelm scream

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:45, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

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

Discuss this issue

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Clackmannan

Hi, can you source the distances in the lead? Use Google maps and check if you can. You might want to archive your talk page sometime, it's huge!♦ Dr. Blofeld 13:20, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

@Dr Blofeld: Done (but I was looking for "as the crow flies" rather than via road) and I have set up an archive. Thanks Quetzal1964 (talk) 15:42, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

April 2020 at Women in Red

April 2020, Volume 6, Issue 4, Numbers 150, 151, 159, 160, 161, 162 April offerings at Women in Red. Online events: New: Gender studies / Dance / Geofocus: Caucasus Photo and image campaign: #VisibleWikiWomen Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman / Sports! Editor feedback: Schedule planning at the Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

--Rosiestep (talk) 15:00, 23 March 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Crimea Pass

Hi, lulu.com is a "vanity press" source, often using wiki content, can you replace it, cheers.♦ Dr. Blofeld 19:29, 24 March 2020 (UTC)

@Dr Blofeld: Done, from Hansard no less. What about Gladsmuir and Andrena barbilabris? I make my counts out as 137 counties (50 England 33 Scotland 35 Ireland 22 Wales) and a total of 168 articles (50 England 61 Scotland 22 Wales 35 Ireland) as @ 17:13 31 March 2020. I will have all the Welsh counties done today and will move onto the island my paternal ancestors came from. Quetzal1964 (talk) 08:35, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Fergus McFadden. , can you fix dates? Feel free to update the score to whatever is correct.♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:44, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 March 2020

• From the editors: The bad and the good

• News and notes: 2018 Wikipedian of the year blocked

• WikiProject report: WikiProject COVID-19: A WikiProject Report

• Special report: Wikipedia on COVID-19: what we publish and why it matters

• In the media: Blocked in Iran but still covering the big story

• Discussion report: Rethinking draft space

• Arbitration report: Unfinished business

• In focus: "I have been asked by Jeffrey Epstein …"

• Community view: Wikimedia community responds to COVID-19

• Recent research: Disease outbreak uncertainties, AfD forecasting, auto-updating Wikipedia

• From the archives: Text from Wikipedia good enough for Oxford University Press to claim as own

• Traffic report: The only thing that matters in the world

• Gallery: Visible Women on Wikipedia

• News from the WMF: Amid COVID-19, Wikimedia Foundation offers full pay for reduced hours, mobilizes all staff to work remote, and waives sick time

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:43, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

The Great Britain and Ireland Destubathon

	WINNER of The March 2020 Great Britain and Ireland Destubathon
	WINNER of the The Great Britain and Ireland Destubathon with all 137 counties covered. Incredible achievement, you've been amazing!! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 14:32, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

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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Wikipedia:The 50,000 Destubbing Challenge

Hi, if you desrtub any articles OK to add them to this? I don't mind adding them from the African list if you don't want to list them twice. I was hoping to get that off to a good start once people have recovered from the contest.† Encyclopædius 12:40, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 April 2020

• News and notes: Unbiased information from Ukraine's government?

• In the media: Coronavirus, again and again

• Discussion report: Redesigning Wikipedia, bit by bit

• Featured content: Featured content returns

• Arbitration report: Two difficult cases

• Traffic report: Disease the Rhythm of the Night

• Gallery: Roy is doing fine and sending more photos

• Recent research: Trending topics across languages; auto-detecting bias

• Essay: Wikipedia:An article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing

• By the numbers: Open data and COVID-19: Wikipedia as an informational resource during the pandemic

• Opinion: Trusting Everybody to Work Together

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?

• Interview: Health and RfA's: An interview with Guy Macon

• In focus: Multilingual Wikipedia

• WikiProject report: The Guild of Copy Editors

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May 2020 at Women in Red

May 2020, Volume 6, Issue 5, Numbers 150, 151, 163, 164, 165, 166 May offerings at Women in Red. Online events: New: Healthcare / Women and their animals / Marys and Mays/ Geofocus Central & Eastern Europe Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman / Sports! Help us plan future events: Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversation: Women in Red talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

--Rosiestep (talk) 20:59, 29 April 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging

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 [1] per discussion at WT:FAC
• Note: The very odd dates used in earlier years result from pulling old data from the talk page at WP:FAS.

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

*subset of natural sciences

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

April DYKs

Jenny

White-throated round-eared bat

Formica fusca ants tending mealybugs

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

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

Discuss this issue

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June 2020 at Women in Red

Women in Red June 2020, Volume 6, Issue 6, Numbers 150, 151, 167, 168, 169 Online events: New: Pride / United Nations / Geofocus on reducing gender imbalance Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman / Sports! Help us plan future events: Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversation: Women in Red talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

--Rosiestep (talk) 17:11, 25 May 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Redeye piranha

Hi, can you improve that? Looks like it should be nuked and restarted!† Encyclopædius 19:04, 25 May 2020 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Anthiadinae

A tag has been placed on Category:Anthiadinae requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the category has been empty for seven days or more and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 14:38, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 May 2020

• From the editor: Meltdown May?

• News and notes: 2019 Picture of the Year, 200 French paid editing accounts blocked, 10 years of Guild Copyediting

• In the media: CBS on COVID-19, Sanger on bias, false noses, and five prolific editors

• Discussion report: WMF's Universal Code of Conduct

• Special report: The sum of human knowledge? Not in one Wikipedia language edition

• Featured content: Weathering the storm

• Arbitration report: Board member likely to receive editing restriction

• Traffic report: Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam

• Op-Ed: Where Is Political Bias Taking Us?

• Gallery: Wildlife photos by the book

• News from the WMF: WMF Board announces Community Culture Statement

• Recent research: Automatic detection of covert paid editing; Wiki Workshop 2020

• Community view: Transit routes and mapping during stay-at-home order downtime

• On video: COVID-19 spurs innovations in Wikimedia video and virtual programming

• WikiProject report: Revitalizing good articles

• On the bright side: 500,000 articles in the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia

• Obituaries: Dmitrismirnov, Kattenkruid, Muidlatif, Ronhjones, Tsirel

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:06, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

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)

Discuss this issue

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

July 2020 at Women in Red

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Australiopalpa

Hope you're well. I don't know if this interests you but can you find enough to destub it?† Encyclopædius 10:44, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

Encyclopædius I can't find anything on this genus that isn't behind a paywall. Quetzal1964 (talk) 16:01, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for looking. Getting tired of paywalls, it's getting ridiculous in the US!† Encyclopædius 16:05, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

@Quetzal1964: What's the paywall? Are you referring to published scholarly articles? If so I can check if I can get access. --SuperJew (talk) 12:22, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

SuperJew Sorry, I missed your offer of help last month. I'll look into it again and get back to you. Quetzal1964 (talk) 07:32, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

No worries! Let me know :) --SuperJew (talk) 08:21, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Classifying fish per country

Was just wondering on what basis are you classifying the country of each fish on the destub challenge? --SuperJew (talk) 12:21, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

SuperJew If the species is endemic to a country then that is easy, I choose that country. If it is found in more than one country them I may choose the country the type locality is located in, I also may select a country named in the text where the species may be commercially or culturally important. Alternatively, I may pick any country of occurrence, for example if a species distribution is given as the Red Sea then I may pick any of the countries with a Red Sea coastline to allocate the article to. This is the same way of allocating articles on natural history subjects I, and others, have used in previous destubbing challenges. I am supporting this destubbing challenge while updating fish articles and I am currently working through the Perciformes which will take me longer than this summer. Destubbing actually slows this down as I now expand the articles where I can rather than just updating to Speciesbox, citing the iucn template, adding synonyms, etc.. The last one article I destubbed was Epinephelus latifasciatus, which occurs in the Persian Gulf, so I decided to allocate it to Iran. I could have allocated it to Japan where the type locality is, India, Sri Lanka, Australia or Taiwan which are all mentioned in the article or any countries with a coastline on the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman or Persian Gulf, but I chose Iran.Quetzal1964 (talk) 07:35, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Cool thanks for the explanation :) (I was mostly curious) --SuperJew (talk) 18:58, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

August 2020 at Women in Red

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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)

The Signpost: 2 August 2020

• Special report: Wikipedia and the End of Open Collaboration?

• COI and paid editing: Some strange people edit Wikipedia for money

• News and notes: Abstract Wikipedia, a hoax, sex symbols, and a new admin

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Re: Science Direct

Science Direct is just a website, it contains all sorts of things. Asking whether it's reliable is like asking whether Google.com is a reliable source. "Science Direct Topics" is merely a collection of automatically generated snippets from random papers. Have you actually read what it is about and could you please tell me under which category of Wikipedia:Reliable sources do you think it would fall? Thanks, Nemo 15:04, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Nemo bis Thank you I looked at it and it claims that it provides "credible, accurate and relevant content", it is a summary of papers. So, if you were to explain it to someone who was, as we say, hard of understanding, you would say that they should cite the papers referred to on the summary rather than the summary, is that correct? Quetzal1964 (talk) 17:13, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Yes, definitely. Especially as those snippets may vary, so in a year or two the reader may not find at all what you were referring to. I found many such cases already... Nemo 14:23, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

September Women in Red edithons

Women in Red | September 2020, Volume 6, Issue 9, Numbers 150, 151, 176, 177 Online events: New: Women writers | Women in conflict zones Interwiki collaborations: Women of WWII Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman | BLM/Anti-discrimination Help us plan future events: Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversation: Women in Red talkpage Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red | Opt-out of notifications Social media: Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

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The Signpost: 30 August 2020

• News and notes: The high road and the low road

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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)

DYK for Acanthurus nigricauda

On 20 September 2020, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Acanthurus nigricauda, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the colour of the blackstreak surgeonfish changes according to its mood? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Acanthurus nigricauda. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Acanthurus nigricauda), 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.

Cwmhiraeth (talk) 00:04, 20 September 2020 (UTC)

October editathons from Women in Red

Women in Red | October 2020, Volume 6, Issue 10, Numbers 150, 173, 178, 179 Online events: Annual Ada Lovelace Day celebration: Women in STEM Contest (Oct-Nov-Dec): Women in Asia Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman | BLM/Anti-discrimination Help us plan future events: Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversation: Women in Red talkpage Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red | Opt-out of notifications Social media: Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

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Join the Months of African Cinema Global Contest!

Greetings!

The AfroCine Project invites you to join us again this October and November, the two months which are dedicated to improving content about the cinema of Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora.

Join us in this exciting venture, by helping to create or expand contents in Wikimedia projects which are connected to this scope. Kindly list your username under the participants section to indicate your interest in participating in this contest.

We would be awarding prizes to different categories of winners:

• Overall winner
  • 1st - $500
  • 2nd - $200
  • 3rd - $100
• Diversity winner - $100
• Gender-gap fillers - $100
• Language Winners - up to $100*

We would be adding additional categories as the contest progresses, along with local prizes from affiliates in your countries. For further information about the contest, the prizes and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. Looking forward to your participation.--Jamie Tubers (talk) 19:22, 22nd September 2020 (UTC)

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About Nothonotus starnesi - "Caney Fork Darter"?

The Tennessee Aquarium website identifies Etheostoma starnesi as the common name of "Caney Fork Darter" here. Same species with two common names? Two different species with the same common name, perhaps? Pete AU aka --Shirt58 (talk) 13:09, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

Shirt58 Thank you for you comment. For articles on fishes, Wikipedia follows the taxonomy of Fishbase and this puts this species in Nothonotus so E. starnesi is a synonymous binomial. There is some variation among the relevant authorities as to whether Nothonotus is a subgenus of Etheostoma or a valid genus and what species are included.Quetzal1964 (talk) 14:40, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the your reply! The specific epithet - unlike more generic epithets like "elegans" and so on - "starnesi" would appear to indicate that the species in question was named in honour of a notable ichthyologist. I'll have a little look around and see what I can find. Pete "not an ichthyologist but definitely a queer fish" AU aka --Shirt58 (talk) 10:35, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

November edith-a-thons from Women in Red

Women in Red | November 2020, Volume 6, Issue 11, Numbers 150, 173, 178, 180, 181 Online events: New: Textile arts | Stage Screen Radio Podcast Continuing initiatives: #1day1woman | BLM/Anti-discrimination Contest (Oct-Nov-Dec): Women in Asia Help us plan future events: Virtual Ideas Cafe Join the conversation: Women in Red talkpage Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red | Opt-out of notifications Social media: Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 18:49, 28 October 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Great Augusta Foote Arnold Wikipedia Site

Hello Quetzal1964, I like your Augusta Foote Arnold site because I like natural history, just as you do, especially birds, but also the history of natural history via biographies. I have been researching her life and times, as a way to know more deeply the origins of marine biology in the United States.

I am from California, Los Angeles, southern half of the state. Her book discusses California many times, but not as much as the Atlantic coast, as she was from there, so I wish there was more discussion by her about California. Nonetheless, there is a lot, if I also include the marine algae (seaweeds) and I would like to compile and scribe her California writings, so that California naturalists and marine biologists would be more aware of her early work.

Fully 23 years would elapse, nearly 25, until about 1927, when the next book on marine life of the seashore would be written again, by another woman, Myrtle Johnson, a university professor at San Diego State College.

And then, another 10 years before Between Pacific Tides, by Ed Ricketts, who Steinbeck praises and elevates, and I know that book biography of Ed Ricketts.

Both Ed and Myrtle barely mention Augusta Foote Arnold and her book. One feels that you can talk too highly of earlier books for fear that the new book will not be read, and so some ego is involved. Ed is not positive about the book by Johnson as well.

Wondering if you might do a wikipedia site about Blanche Trask?

Thank you for doing the wikipedia site about Augusta Foote Arnold.

Peace, 'Roy'Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 20:17, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

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Fascinating Idea for an Article on Extinct Birds of Britain

Hello Quetzal1964, Fascinating/nice to discover that you are working on an article on the Extinct Birds of Britain. I will be interested to know these bird, even if sad to learn about the birds that have gone extinct. Will you be discussing those that disappeared in different geologic time periods with fossils? Will compare the the difference of extirpated versus extinct species? Will you discuss that some of the birds are extant in Europe and can be recovered to Britain? Peace, 'Roy'Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 21:01, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

The Months of African Cinema Contest Continues in November!

Greetings,

Thank you very much for participating in the Months of African Cinema global contest/edit-a-thon, and thank you for your contributions so far.

It is already the middle of the contest and a lot have been achieved already! We have been able to get over 1,500 articles created in over fifteen (15) languages! This would not have been possible without your support and we want to thank you. If you have not yet listed your name as a participant in the contest page please do so.

Please make sure to list the articles you have created or improved in the article achievements' section of the contest page, so that they can be easily tracked. To be able to claim prizes, please also ensure to list your articles on the users by articles page. We would be awarding prizes to different categories of winners:

• Overall winner
  • 1st - $500
  • 2nd - $200
  • 3rd - $100
• Diversity winner - $100
• Gender-gap filler - $100
• Language Winners - up to $100*

We are very excited about what has been achieved so far, but your contributions are still needed to further exceed all expectations! Let’s create more articles before the end of this contest, which is this November!!!

Thank you once again for being part of this global event! --Jamie Tubers (talk) 10:30, 06 November 2020 (UTC)

You can opt-out of this annual reminder from The Afrocine Project by removing your username from this list

Anthony Curtiss Red Link in Augusta Foote Arnold

Hello Quetzal,

I did a little research and found a goo biographical article on Anthony Curtiss. Given there is a red link for Anthony Curtiss on the Augusta Foote Arnold biography article, I was wondering if the time is good for a new wikipedia article on Anthony Curtiss, which would allow linking the the two biographies togehter, not unlike was done for Richard Knapp Allen.

I noticed that the blenny mentioned in the Augusta Foote Arnold in the Eponym section, also has an interesting article on the blenny, and there is a red link there about Anthony Curtiss, so a new article would be helpful there. I suspect there may be additional articles where Arnold Curtiss has red links, including articles on birds, butterflies and dragonflies, but I am not absolutely certain.

Here is some bio info on Anthony Curtiss that I found in an article about him. His birth name is Roy Abijah Curtiss, Jr. Birth: May 9, 1910 in New York. Death: July 12, 1981 in Pakistan.

There is a photo of Roy "Anthony" Curtiss as a young man.

I have found verification that Anthony Curtiss did name another species, not a fish, definitely for Augusta Foote Arnold whichis is "sand bug" now more commonly known as "sand crab" in the Hippa Family.

The short bio about Roy "Anthony" Curtiss is by Neal L. Everhuis. He is zoologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. Article Title: Anthony Curtiss (1910-1981): a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Journal Name: Fly Times, Issue 44, April, 2010. Pages 13-16, photo on page 13. Article is onlin pdf at: http://www.nadsdiptera.org/News/FlyTimes/issue44.pdf

I believe we can list the expertise of Anthony Curtiss, not only as a zoologist but also due to his use of native Tahitian peoples names for Tahitian animals, which he learned from interviewing native Tahitian Polynesians, he is also an ethnographer (anthropologist) and an ethnobiologist (ethnozoologist).

Anthony Curtiss married a young Tahitian woman, and she had 7 children with Anthony, whom appear to all have moved back to USA with him, and later to Haiti, and back to the USA.

I hope you agree that there is enough information to begin a wikipedia article about Anthony Curtiss?

I plan to write to Neal Everhuis to see if I can find more information about Anthony Curtiss. And I already wrote to Chris, who is an ichthyologist that was cited in the Augusta Foote Arnold article as a citation/reference for his list of fish with Arnold in Latin in the species epithet, as "arnorldorum" and this is the same species epithet used for the "sand bug" that I listed above, on page 167 of the zoological article by Anthony Curtiss of circa 1938.

Interestingly, Chris wrote back to me, including two pdfs of articles by Arnold Curtiss on Tahiti Zoology. I would like to forward his email and two pdf to you if you are interested, but I would need your email address.

I hope you are well, and enjoying your new puppy. Be safe in these pandemic days.

Peace, 'Roy' Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 02:56, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

By the way, I just completed a 1000th edit, and I got a short note stating, thank you to me for being a good contributer/editor.

Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk · contribs) Have a look at my Sandbox user:Quetzal1964/sandbox. Quetzal1964 (talk) 20:37, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi Quetzal1964. I looked at your Sandbox, much thanks to to you for sharing the link as I am not familiar with Sandbox, but have heard of it, and may have tried to use it for an article 6 months ago, but failed. You are introducing me to more new editing understanding with the Sandbox.

Is the reference citation #3 not used in the right place with respect to geography, Tahiti versus New England?

I am so happy to see the Roy Curtiss bash (have I used the Scots term appropiately?).

I had missed the importance of his grandmother and roots to Islam and Pakistan, which is fascinating.

Lots of good discovery, such as cemetery grave having date of birth different then Fly Times article, albeit only 9 days difference. Use of Latin 'nom plume' is great and new to me, just barely awared of use of this term.

Is there a reason for stopping at Early Years? Possibly still a draft with more to do? Possibly asking me to add some info?

What about the photo?

May I refer to what you have done so far, overall as a bash as well, in Scots language?

With your interest in birds, nice to see that Anthony Curtiss studies birds, and I learned that he may have been the last person to see Tahiti Rail, now extinct. And he learned the Tahitian words for birds. I was saddened to learn that his library and papers were lost in a fire, hopefullly not linked to people of Massachusetts not liking him for his marriage and their children of mixed Tahitian ethnicity. Just sayin, perhaps totally unrelated, given also that Massachusetts is very liberal, not biased so much as other parts of the US.

By the way, I have been reading about fish and crabs at this time, to be more understanding of Anthony Curtiss and his natural history interests

I am very interested in links to Augusta Foote Arnold with regard to invertebrates, including his collecting and finding "sand bugs" which later evoled into being known as "mole crab" or "sand crab" and I have started contacting some crab biologists via email.

What can I do to help you with completing the article for submission?

Peace, 'Roy Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 23:23, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk · contribs) The article is a work in progress. The citation 3 is there because they mention this publication too. I will finish the drafting over the next few days. However, if you can add anything that you can find and reference then you should do so. If you have a reference for him potentially being the last person to see Tahiti Rail that would be a valuable and interesting addition. Potentially something we could put forward as a Did you know once the article is finished. There is a noted scientist called Roy Curtiss who I think is his son, if you could find something about this that would be helpful too.Quetzal1964 (talk) 13:19, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi Quetzal1964, Ok, I see, and article is looking good. Looking forward to the finish.

I think you are saying that doing editing of what you have written is good for me to do? I would like to help. I noticed that there is redlink in your sandbox, so you do not use that, as it is not created. Just asking. I am not familiar nor keen to add edits there, as writing here works, and I can make edits directly to the draft article in the sandbox.

Sounds very cool to do a Did you know after article was finished on Tahiti Rail.

The son of Anthony Curtiss, named Roy Curtiss III, which I agree may be his son, so someone who I would like to write to here in the USA, to inquire about their relationship, and who would have been born in Tahiti, would be interesting as well. As you show, there is a blue link to this Roy Curtiss III?

In the References/cited section, I could only read the first page of the Zootaxa article link as one of the references by Evehnuis, Ng, and Eldridge in 2011. I would like to read the whole article. I hope and plan to write to all three of them, as their email addresses are provided.

Peace, 'Roy'Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 13:53, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi Quetzal1964 again, I looked again a the sandbox for Anthony Curtiss, and noticed there are two questions and a link to submit the article.

"Finished writing a draft article? Are you ready to request an experienced editor review it for possible inclusion in Wikipedia?"

Do you get to choose the experienced editor, or is that random? I am curious and interested to know how that works?

Peace, 'Roy'Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 14:20, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk · contribs) I have finished the main drafting of the article.

I do not submit articles for review as I am, I think, an experienced editor, I did once but was told that my articles were of a standard which did not require review. I am using my sandbox because I did not expect to complete the article in one go.

If the photograph has no copyright issues then we can use it but I try to make sure that images are usable within Wikipedia’s policies before using them.

If Roy Curtiss III is Anthony Curtiss’s son then he probably remained in the US when his father went to Morocco as he graduated BSc from Cornell University in 1956. However, he was born in 1934 in New York, so there is some doubt around AC being his father. As I understand it, in America, if you are called Joe Bloggs and you name your son after yourself he is called Joe Bloggs Junior and if he does the same then your grandson is called Joe Bloggs III. Not something we do over here, numerals after names being restricted to monarchs. Quetzal1964 (talk) 17:03, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi Quetzal1964, Congrats finishing the article. I will look at after finishing this reply to you. You are an experienced editor, and I am still junior editor, who has learned from you, thanks. Thanks also, for explaining further about the Sandbox. I agree with you about the photo. I will look into the status of photo rights, when I write to Neal Everhuis, the biologist at Hawaii, who wrote a biography about him that included the photo.

Agreement about Roy Curtiss III. I have seen a photo of him at retirement from University in Arizona. I see a full beard, certainly caucasion/white with no hint to me of mixed heritage with a Tahitian Polynesian mother. Perhaps, his mother was herself mixed with French heritage mixed. I have yet to write to Roy Curtiss III, who if arithmetic of Cornell graduation in 1950s, and photo, would indicate that he is in his 80s, so as a senior, he may not be able to communicate, or not wishing to speak of his family history. I will try later today hopefully to write that email to him.

Peace, 'Roy'Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 17:37, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk · contribs) I have found that his brothers Thomas Quinn Curtiss and Sidney Quinn Curtiss were notable and that Augustus John painted a portrait of his mother. According to newspapers at the time, his mother divorced his father for adultery with his secretary, he died in her home following the divorce. As part of the settlement his mother had a permanent apartment at a fixed rent at the Waldorf Astoria from 1921 to her death in 1974. I also found an obituary for another brother, Franklin, who was a selectman for 10 years and a Republican candidate for state representative in the 4th Berkshire District of Massachusetts in 1992 and who died in 2002. http://www.iberkshires.com/community/printerFriendly.php?ob_id=2374

Quetzal1964 (talk) 18:06, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Greetings Quetzal1964, Fascinating to learn more about the brothers of Anthony Curtiss. Is Augustus John also a brother, as reading the blue link biography as an artist, I did not see any mention of being with Curtiss family, and the surname "John" is not Curtiss. Could he have changed his name as being an artist, and perhaps not liking his father, and is this a reason that Anthony made this given name for himself, to distance from his father. Interesting that there may be a painting portrait by Augustus of his mother, which indicates caring about his mother. Curious to consider if Augustus was a name that links to Augusta Foote Arnold, with possibly their mother liking the seashore and shell collecting and a link to the coast near Massachusetts east coast? Pure speculation and myth and storytelling on my part?

I am interested, by the way, in Berkshire County of western Massachusetts, and visited there one time about 10 years ago, and I have researched biography of Ralph Hoffmann, of a german immigrant family that wrote a Flora of Berkshire County, and wrote many articles on birds of Berkshire County, and wrote a very important birdwatching field guide for northeast England, and became a teacher. I just did this sidebar but not related to the subject at hand of the Curtiss family.

The nice arrangement for their mother to live for a long time at the Waldorf Astoria in New York is fascinating, showing a strong link to her side of the family having been associated with New York. And I recall that the childhood of Anthony Curtiss was in part in New York, and that young Anthonly, perhaps with his mother alongside, visited and explored the American Museum of Natural History?

On and on. I had no idea when I first checked with you about Augusta Foote Arnold that we would go down a path about Anthony Curtiss. Would be nice to learn if the Curtiss family has any traveling that went to California at some point? And did the Curtiss family ever go to England or Scotland or Nederland, possibly Holland at Amsterdam, since they did go to nearby France.

Well, yet again, I have written a long message, and apologize if I am writing too much.

Peace, 'Roy' Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 19:35, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

The biographical article in Fly Times, if I am not mistaken, hints that Anthony was close to his mother, and she imparted into him about liking nature.

Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk · contribs) Augustus John was a Welsh artist, no relation to the Curtiss family. The mother spent a lot of time as a girl in France and Germany and was fluent in both French and German. She traveled to Europe most of her life. Quinn is an Irish name so I guess she had Irish ancestry. At least two of Anthony’s brothers served in the US Military in World War II. I will post the article now. Quetzal1964 (talk) 20:01, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi Quetzal1964, Did you want me to make some edits prior to posting the article? Or perhaps after posting the article is okay too. Just checking. Peace, 'Roy'Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 20:26, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk · contribs) It's posted now so anyone can edit it. If you have sourced information to add, especially after you have e mailed some of the authorities then you should edit it. The picture would be excellent of the copyright is suitable.Quetzal1964 (talk) 20:45, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Great news, Quetzal1964. Thanks. I made few minor edits that are more like proofreading. I like the article very much. Well done, with abundent compliments. I will be able make some blue links to this article from other artices as I review further. And similarly, I can blue link this article to other articles. I hope to get permission for that photo of him to be used.

Peace, 'Roy'Robert Jan van de Hoek (talk) 21:43, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Adding Links by a neophyte.

Hey Quetzal (bird of Guatemala),

I am rather inexperienced with Wikipedia and so I must ask the reason for removing the link to Madagascar in the article Bedotia leucopteron?

Thanks for all you do,

PHIL — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phil Fish (talk • contribs) 02:00, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

Phil Fish (talk · contribs) Thank you for getting in touch. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Linking Countries and other large, well known geographic entities, like Oceans or Continents, are usually not linked because the assumption is that the reader knows what these are. Overlinking is not a serious faux pas but new editors, including myself, often do it. I saw my Resplendant Quetzals in Costa Rica.Quetzal1964 (talk) 08:09, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

Thanks Quetzal,

Thanks for the explanation.

I completely see the point of well known geographic entities. But I am guessing if you asked ten people at random, the minority would know where or what Madagascar is. The majority? Maybe they would know it from the Cartoon movies Madagascar.

I'll try not to over link.

Nice corresponding with you.

PHIL

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