Talk:Bumblebee/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: FunkMonk (talk · contribs) 18:03, 21 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I'll review this one, looks interesting! FunkMonk (talk) 18:03, 21 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(and @User:Cwmhiraeth) - thanks for taking this on. We think it's a fascinating subject too. Chiswick Chap (talk) 19:46, 21 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"These bees obtain pollen from other species of flowers which they "legitimately" visit." Needs citation.

Removed sentence, topic is covered in following cited paragraph.

"According to 20th-century folklore, the laws of aerodynamics prove the bumblebee should be incapable of flight, as it does not have the capacity (in terms of wing size or beats per second) to achieve flight with the degree of wing loading necessary." Appears citation comes after quote, but could perhaps need citation as well, as it is a different paragraph.

Done.

"Bumblebees have been known to reach an internal thoracic temperature of 30 °C (86 °F) using this method." Needs citation.

Done.

The footnote needs a citation.

Done.

A long list of books at the end of the last section lacks citations, but I assume you mean the book titles are citations themselves? Not sure what to do there.

Nothing, as you say.

Ok for GA, but I could imagine at FAC they would either want a full citation for each, or a citation to a source that lists them all. FunkMonk (talk) 21:50, 22 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

There are many lovely images, but you leave out all growth stages besides adult. What about eggs, larvae, and pupae?

Good point.

-- Pupae are now wikilinked in a nest image.

-- Larvae are now wikilinked in a nest image.

-- Eggs, can't find anything worth including.

More to come soon as I read the article.
"List of world bumblebee species" Not really about this article, but as it has important links to it, why is "world" included in the title? Seems almost ridiculous. What other planet do they live on?

Done. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:28, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"The corbiculate bees are a monophyletic group." What is the clade name, Apidae? Or is there none?

The subfamily is Apinae but this contains about twenty tribes most of which are solitary bees. The Apini, Bombini, Euglossini and Meliponini are social bees and seem to be called "corbiculate" because of the pollen baskets on their hind legs but I cannot make out that it is a formal clade. See this source. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:17, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

More comments

I like your phylogeny sections, as this is often lacking in other articles, but can't help but note this "giving rise to controversy, now largely settled". I'd be interested in an example of a previous scheme, just for historical context (I guess I'm a taxonomy nerd).

OK (it does risk confusing the reader): if one wants eusocial behaviour to evolve only once, then the Apini have to be close to the Meliponini, an awkward pairing of dissimilar tribes. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:18, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps the article should specifically state that Bombus is the only extant genus in the bombini?

Done. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:11, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"a degree of complexity criticised by Williams (2008)." In what sense, due to oversplitting, or overlumping (subgenera instead of just genera)?

Too many subgenera. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:11, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

As all other subgenera have articles, shouldn't the Bombus subgenus as well? It is after all not identical to the genus, only by name.

Done. I have also put the subgenera in alphabetical order. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 07:14, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No range map?

See next reply. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:49, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"They are absent from Australia, although they have been introduced to Tasmania, and are found in Africa only north of the Sahara." Does that mean it exists everywhere else? What about South America, for example, or South Asia?

Clarified this. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:49, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Since there's no general description, I can't find what physically sets bumblebees apart from other bees in the article. My first thoughts would be that they seem to be much more robustly built, with rounder bodies and thicker legs, but I would only know from the photos, and I would not know of possible exceptions. Nothing on size/variation if it either. Largest and smallest species?

Added a general description. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:08, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"Bumblebees form colonies of up to about 400 individuals" Could perhaps be interesting to note how small a colony can be as well?

Well they all start with 1! But they reach maxima of roughly 50 to 400 in different species. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:19, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"and can lay unfertilised haploid eggs (with only a single set of chromosomes) that develop into viable male bumblebees." Are these males (if they survive) as likely to mate with queens as those born from queens?

The queen in a nest never mates again, so her sons only mate with young queens. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:23, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"which occur due to the positive static charges generated when bees fly through the air (see Atmospheric electricity)" Wouldn't it be more consistent with the practice elsewhere in the article to to just have (atmospheric electricity)?

Done. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:23, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"Bumblebees are also capable of buzz pollination." Could this be briefly explained in-text?

Done. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"with males (drones) which are forcibly driven out of the colony." Where do they live then?

They buzz around but don't live anywhere. After they have performed their function they are redundant and die before winter. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 07:19, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"forcibly (using pheromones and/or physical attacks) "enslaves" the workers of that colony" How, do they think she is the queen?

Edited the sentence to clarify the means, which are physical force and pheromones. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"They usually emerge from hibernation later then their host species." Than?

Done. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 07:19, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I recall seeing a bumblebee and a honeybee fight, or one dragging along with the other, as a kid. Do they compete or something like that? And do bumblebees fight each other (not thinking of nest parasites)?

It doesn't seem to be a documented thing; cuckoo bumblebees however certainly attack nestmaking queens. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:29, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

"from the populations surviving in New Zealand from their introduction there a century earlier." Were they chosen because they descended from the same population, or were there no other populations to take from?

From the same population. Said British-derived.

"The queens were checked for freedom from mites" Isn't "freedom" somewhat redundant here?

Removed.

Now there's a large, imageless gap in the first half of the article; not a requirement, but I always fill up such space with additional images of interest...

Added Meliponini (sister group) to Phylogeny section.

"consisting often of fewer than 50 individuals in a nest" The article doesn't state this specifically, only the intro.

Done. I've said "growing to", i.e. 1 grows to 50, or whatever.

These were my last comments, once I pass it, we can try to make a range map... FunkMonk (talk) 22:05, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That's great, thank you. Chiswick Chap (talk) 22:29, 23 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good, passed! FunkMonk (talk) 06:47, 24 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your thorough review. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 09:28, 24 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]