GA Review[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


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Reviewer: Jens Lallensack (talk · contribs) 19:28, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]


Will review now!

Lead

I will try to get to the rest soon! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 19:28, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Jens Lallensack and thanks for starting the review. For the first two options it is to say that Aristonectes was poorly analyzed due to its rather enigmatic anatomy for the 20th century, to the point of being declared as an Incertae sedis by Welles (1962). Aristonectes feeding is also detailled in the "feeding" chapter : This indicates that A. quiriquinensis fed in benthic zones, mixing prey and sediment at the same time. This type of feeding pattern is also documented in modern gray whales (also illustrated like this). For the two last objections, i've corrected them. -- Amirani1746 (talk) 20:07, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Amirani; yes, I see that the feeding is discussed later-on in the article. But readers need to be able to understand the lead without reading the rest. So we need to explain this better. Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:21, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
And as I said, then it is not an "uncertain taxon" but a "taxon of uncertain relationships" (but then, we may ask, at which level?), and that does not make it an invalid name. Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:24, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Jens Lallensack, what do you think of this new sentence for the introduction to the article? : Throughout the 20th century, Aristonectes was a rather difficult animal for scientists to analyze due to poor fossil preparation, and was sometimes declared as a taxon of uncertain placement. Subsequent revisions and discoveries carried out from the beginning of the 21st century have erected Aristonectes as the type genus of the subfamily Aristonectinae, a lineage of elasmosaurids characterized by an enlarged skull and a reduced length of the neck.
-- Amirani1746 (talk) 08:09, 18 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • and was sometimes declared as a taxon of uncertain placement – I think you don't "declare" something to be of uncertain placement. Just say "its relationships to other genera were uncertain" or similar.
  • Subsequent revisions and discoveries carried out from the beginning of the 21st century have erected Aristonectes as the type genus – this is technically incorrect I would say; the erection of a genus is a nomenclatural act and therefore can per definition only be made by a single study (which would be Cabrera, 1941). Maybe write like this: "After subsequent revisions … Aristonectes is now recognised as the type genus …". --Jens Lallensack (talk) 22:49, 18 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Main text, paragraph 1

@Amirani1746: Ok, this was the first paragraph of the "Research history". I made a number of smaller edits directly myself. The article seems complete, but I think we are quite far away from reaching Good Article criterion 1: Well-written. This first paragrah has multiple grammar issues, the language needs to be improved, the succession and organisation of information needs to be improved. To be honest, I could not really follow this paragraph. Some sentences (including the first) I still do not understand after several reads. It would be a long review, as we would need to walk through it paragraph by paragraph, and I would ask you to watch out for the problems we already discussed in the remaining paragraphs before I read them. Let me know what you think. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 20:20, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hello again Jens Lallensack, here my thinking :
  • The Lydekker's book is talking about "P." chilensis and absolutely not about A. quiriquinensis.
I was not questioning the sources but the clairty of your text. Solved now since A. quiriquinensis is no longer mentioned.
  • This formulation feels a bit off. And when you mention that he considered the specimen as a elasmosaurid, you should also mention as what these specimens have been classified before did you even read this in the paragraph previously ? : In 1895, Wilhelm Deecke moved it to the genus Pliosaurus as Pliosaurus chilensis, and attributed other fossils that have been discovered in the same locality.
Ok I see, but we cannot expect the reader to know that Pliosaurus is not an elasmosaurid. It would be ideal to introduce these clade names shortly, and mention Pliosauroidae when you mention Pliosaurus.
  • The type species, Aristonectes parvidens, would have been described long before the identification of the holotype specimen This sentence clearly tells to the reader that the first known potential specimen of A. parvidens would have been found and named more than a century before the description by Cabrera (1941), which officially named Aristonectes.
Your explanation now is clear, but this sentence says something entirely different. I even think the sentence is impossible, since you cannot validly describe a species before its holotype has been identified. Maybe replace this sentence with your explanation. Remember, be as clear as you can!
  • nominally reclassifies 'P. chilensis' under its original name This sentence says that "P." chilensis was reclassified under the original name as proposed by Gay (1848) in the study of Cabrera (1941).
That means the original name is Plesiosaurus chilensis. Which means the sentence says that P. chilensis is reclassified as P. chilensis. That does not make any sense to me.
  • As for the other problem you mentionned, i think i've corrected them.
-- Amirani1746 (talk) 21:33, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Look, I am just trying to help. What I am trying to do here is showing which parts confused me while reading. I have a background in paleontology, and when I do not understand something, I have serious doubt that our general readership (whitout such background) will. It might be that these misunderstandings are partly due to me being stupid, but then I think that our readership is even more stupid. It is simply not clear enough then, and we need to find ways to make it as clear as possible. Imagine you write for a grandma. The GA criteria clearly state that in an GA, "the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience", and we are not there yet. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 22:12, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Jens Lallensack I think I have fixed the last three problems that you told me. Amirani1746 (talk) 08:23, 18 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • The first sentence still seems entirely wrong to me. The type species, Aristonectes parvidens, would have been found and described long before – no, the type species was described in 1941, not "long before". You probably want to refer to the first specimen here, not the type species. long before the identification of the holotype specimen – no, we do not "identify" an holotype. We have a diagnostic specimen and base a species on it; we do not erect a species and then search for an holotype. Do you just want to say that the first specimen was found long before the genus Aristonectes was named? Then, please, just write that! Why so complicated? Why do you even need to put the words "holotype" and "type species" in there?
  • Cabrera nominally reclassified "Plesiosaurus" chilensis under its original name and compared some remains attributed to this latter to the new taxon named – So am I interpreting this correctly, that Cabrera moved it back into Plesiosaurus, as Plesiosaurus chilensis? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 22:49, 18 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    Jens Lallensack sorry for the late of my response, i was occupied (by the way, don't hesitate to always link my user name into this discussion so that I am informed in my notifications) :
    • I think the last summary text problem is now fixed
    • About the "first specimen" case, i think i've fixed the problem that you described.
    • Concerning Cabrera classifying "Plesiosaurus" chilensis under its original name, this is exaclty what is was saying in this sentence.
    • The "valid name" problem is fixed
    • And i think that the "P." chilensis attributed fossils problem is fixed.
    Amirani1746 (talk) 21:09, 19 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Amirani1746: Your response was not slow at all! As I said above, it is not always enough that a sentence is technically correct; it also needs to be easy to read and understand. This is what "well-written" means. Now that I understand the paragraph, let me make some suggestion of how to improve it:

Jens Lallensack thank for your correcting suggestions, but the first named specimen of A. parvidens does not come from Quiriquina Island, but from the Chubut province in Argentina. The rest, i've fixed them. Amirani1746 (talk) 07:48, 20 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Additional grammar checks help anybody, even native speakers. But it is up to you of course. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 04:02, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
"dubious" makes no sense here, as it would mean that Colberts action is dubious. You want to say "uncertain" I think.
Then I rephrase my question: What did you want to say? The grammar makes no sense.
I understand what you mean, but the grammar is wrong. You don't say "In 1840, seven planets existed in the solar system". No, of course the eight planets always existed, it was just the case that nr. 8 was not yet discovered. This needs re-formulation.
Better, but you did not mention that holotype specimen yet, so readers might assume you mean the A. parvidens holotype. I suggest to just remove the part "based on several anatomical comparisons made with the holotype specimen", because this says nothing; no study will refer something without anatomical comparisons.

Description

Hello again Jens Lallensack, I have not yet corrected all the details, but if I do not explain the discovery of Aristonectes in Antarctica it is because the specimens concerned are generally described or given the names cf. Aristonectes sp., and therefore cannot be concretely assigned to the genus. Perhaps when I develop the FA version of this article, I will probably add a chapter to it, but for the moment, I am only focusing on the two recognized species. Note also that other articles are in the same case, such as Mosasaurus which does not describe the history of the five recognized species, and which yet also has undetermined specimens discovered in Antarctica. Amirani1746 (talk) 13:42, 28 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding the Antartica species, that makes sense, I agree. But you should say that it "cannot be concretely assigned to the genus" when you first mention it. You say "A referred specimen to Aristonectes", which implies that the referral is quite certain. Jens Lallensack (talk) 03:07, 29 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Jens Lallensack, i think that that i've corrected the final problems of this chapter that you've talked. If it still it still had problem do not hesitate to contact me to fix it or fix by yourself. Amirani1746 (talk) 08:35, 30 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Classification and Paleobiology

@Amirani1746: Just in case you missed my new comments, which came after some delay. Also note that you did not yet address some comments from above, those that I added on 01:14, 23 September 2023. Jens Lallensack (talk) 00:20, 12 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Hello again Jens Lallensack ! I think that i've corrected all the last major problems you've mentionned in the article, but what type of alternate sentence could you suggest to me regarding the preservation of specimen MLP-89-III-3-1 ? Amirani1746 (talk) 08:58, 12 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, thanks. What about the older comments I mentioned in my previous response? Let me know if you have questions here. Jens Lallensack (talk) 02:10, 13 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
There is only this sentence that i want to be altered : the manner in which MLP 89-III-3-1 is preserved (being disarticulated) indicates that the true weight should be higher to have had a minimum value for buoyancy
Concerning, the other problem, i don't see them. Amirani1746 (talk) 09:35, 13 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I would start a new sentence and write: "However, as this specimen was disarticulated when it was discovered (i.e., the bones had moved out of their original anatomical position), it is likely that not all of its gastrolithes have been found."
Regarding the other comments, search for my comment starting with "Yes it is. You have information there that is entirely dispensable.", and there are two more unresolved comments below that. Jens Lallensack (talk) 12:15, 13 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Jens Lallensack thanks for the aternate sentence. But about the other problems you've mentionned, I sincerely do not see any other problem to report despite your indication that you have made. Amirani1746 (talk) 16:10, 13 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
You need to keep this sentence of course, otherwise my proposed sentence is without context: The total weight of the gastroliths recovered from this specimen is much lower than that recovered from other elasmosaurids.
Regarding the other comments, ok, I will copy them here, then: --Jens Lallensack (talk) 19:46, 14 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Jens Lallensack Now it is more understanble. I've fixed now the problems, but i think that i've fixed the last one since a long time ago. Amirani1746 (talk) 20:34, 14 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
"Yes it is. You have information there that is entirely dispensable. I mean, you don't write "The femur is 100 cm in length, on the basis of measurements carried out on the femur". You just write "The femur is 100 cm in lengh". Right?"
"I think you got it wrong. If he lists it as "Plesiosaurus" chilensis, with the quotation marks, he did not move it back into Plesiosaurus (otherwise he should not use the quotation marks). --Jens Lallensack (talk) 01:14, 23 September 2023 (UTC)"
"Then you made a mistake, because you write that he was unsure about its validity. As I wrote above, validity is a different thing. He is not unsure about validity, but about the generic placement. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 01:14, 23 September 2023 (UTC)"
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.