Talk:Carabus insulicola

Wiki Education assignment: Behavioral Ecology 2024

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 January 2024 and 25 April 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): MiJiEm (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by MiJiEm (talk) 21:33, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Article Review

This was an awesome article with a lot of interesting information about the beetle’s extensive three-stage mating cycle and sexually dimorphic genital morphology. These details are rare in other entries. This article is very well organized and the sections follow each other in a way that is easy to read. I made some minor edits to improve sentence structure, such as clarifying that after mating, males and females separate, and that males are not expected to help raise offspring. I also relocated the taxonomic information, which was previously under the geographic distribution and habitat section. Since these beetles are predatory, it might be helpful to include information on their hunting methods, how they typically search for prey, or any defensive mechanisms they use against predators. An additional section that could improve the entry is discussing its interactions with humans or its potential cultural significance in Japanese culture, given its prominence in that area.JacksonPanWashU (talk) 02:42, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

I loved this article! There were a lot of interesting facts that caught my attention such as the different stages of mating behaviors, and most importantly, I liked how you explained lots of terms very thoroughly, as I thought many of them could be difficult to understand. For this article, I added the image of Honshu, Japan to indicate where the insect is found. I also added links for a couple terms (e.g. spermatophore and coevolution) because I thought these terms could be confusing to an average reader, so these links would be helpful. The main change that I made was general sentence structure, as many of the sentences were very simple and short, but also very repetitive. For example, in the lead section, many descriptions of the beetle started with “They are… They are… They are…”, so I just combined these sentences to make them sound smooth. Otherwise, this article was great! Marbleparade (talk) 10:55, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Edits and Suggestions

Great article! The article includes a lot of useful information, especially the life cycle, mating behavior, and the coevolution of the two sexes. Here's a summary of my edits and suggestions:

Edits:

1. “The outer wings are greatly degenerated, which prevents them from being able to fly.” changed to “The outer wings are greatly degenerated, making them unable to fly.” The wings may become degenerated as the species do not rely on flying, but they may not be deliberately evolved to prevent flying.
2. Changed the heading “Diet” to “Food Resources.”
3. Moved the section “Social Behaviors” before the section “Life Cycle.”
4. “When a female is allowed to mate with two males, the second male’s spermatophore is the one that is ultimately located on the innermost part of the bursa copulatrix, making it closest to the spermatheca.” changed to “When a female mates multiply, the latest male’s spermatophore is the one that is ultimately located on the innermost part of the bursa copulatrix, making it closest to the spermatheca.” This wording makes it clearer that the female mate multiply intentionally to increase her reproductive success.

Suggestion:

1. The "Social Behaviors" section of the current entry highlights that the species is solitary and mentions that males do not participate in parental care. However, to better understand the transition from brood to solitary life, it would be beneficial to include detailed descriptions of the female’s role in parental care and, specifically, the timeline by which she deems her brood as independent. Additionally, it would be helpful to have detailed information on at what stage the brood separates from the mother and becomes independent in order to understand their solitary nature. Including this information would clarify the lifecycle and social behaviors of Carabus insulicola.

--Reaggyl (talk) 03:53, 21 March 2024 (UTC)