Talk:Xixiasaurus/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Jens Lallensack (talk · contribs) 17:08, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Will start soon. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 17:08, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

why do you have the skull image twice?

Hehe, I knew this would come up! It is actually not the same image; the one under palaeobiology have thick lines drawn directly over the photo (instead of the usual separate interpretive diagram), which I found annoying, since it obscures various details. In APP pdfs, text and diagrams are sometimes on a separate SVG layer of sorts than the photos, so the photos can be extracted without the text/lines, which I did for the version in the infobox to show the specimen more clearly. Usually I wouldn't have done this, but this is also a unusual case. Since both images are useful in their own right, and since there was plenty of room in the article, I thought it would be nice to include both. FunkMonk (talk) 17:26, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, a size comparison diagram is in the works, which will be placed in the beginning of the description section. FunkMonk (talk) 20:03, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Diagram now added. FunkMonk (talk) 10:15, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

a "how to pronounce the name" would be a nice-to-have

Yeah, I have no idea how to source that, though, but I just noticed that this[1] Youtube video (which also uses a silhouette of the Wikipedia restoration) has the narrator pronouncing the name; whether it is correct or not, I have no idea... FunkMonk (talk) 21:24, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps Zanhe, who has contributed to the article (and who I assume knows the language based on edit history), knows of some resources for this? FunkMonk (talk) 05:33, 12 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The IPA for the Mandarin "Xixia" can be generated with {{IPAc-cmn|x|i|1|x|ia|2}}: [ɕíɕjǎ] (approximately She-shia). I suppose a source is not needed for such an automatic conversion. -Zanhe (talk) 05:54, 12 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! How did you generate it? FunkMonk (talk) 06:03, 12 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Just copy and paste the template {{IPAc-cmn|x|i|1|x|ia|2}} to the page, although I'm not sure how to add the -saurus part to the output. -Zanhe (talk) 06:18, 12 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Can it be combined with the "saurus" in the Brachiosaurus intro? FunkMonk (talk) 12:05, 12 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if it's possible to combine the output of two different IPA templates, other than copy-and-pasting the output manually. -Zanhe (talk) 22:32, 12 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe Kwamikagami knows how to combine it... FunkMonk (talk) 10:15, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It's not appropriate to combine Mandarin and English within a word. No-one would pronounce it that way unless they were code-switching. In a pronunciation section, we'd give the English pronunciation. That could be followed by "from Mandarin Xīxiá [ɕíɕjǎ]", or probably better just a link to Xixia County, and put the Mandarin pronunciation there.

As for the English pronunciation, the narrator at that link says /ˌʃiːʃiəˈsɔːrəs/. That may be how it's anglicized, I don't know, assuming there even is an anglicized pronunciation yet. I suppose pronouncing Xixia with 3 syllables rather than the 2 it has in Mandarin is no different than pronouncing "Kyoto" and "Tokyo" with 3 syllables (kee-OH-toh and TOH-kee-oh), but the narrator also pronounces troodontid as /truːˈdɒntɪd/ rather than /troʊəˈdɒntɪd/ -- like people who say "ZOO-ology" for "ZO-ology" -- though that's also very common these days, even among academics. So I don't see anything obviously wrong with "/ˌʃiːʃiəˈsɔːrəs/". — kwami (talk) 17:49, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I added the pronunciation to the lead. Modify it, move it, ref it, delete it etc as you please, of course -- I'm not part of the GA review! — kwami (talk) 18:37, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the addition, not sure how to source it, but such has rarely been questioned during FACs anyway. FunkMonk (talk) 22:45, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"HGM 41HIII−0201 in Henan Geological Museum" – woud be nice to know the town in which the museum is located

Added. FunkMonk (talk) 22:38, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

When viewed from below, the lower margin at the front of the upper jaw formed a tapering U-shape, distinct from the shape in other troodontids. – what is the shape seen in other troodontids, then? Is "the lower margin at the front of" really necessary, or could it be removed? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:14, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Changed to "When viewed from below, the front margin of the upper jaw", as the reader might not know which end is meant. I also added examples of other troodontid shapes. FunkMonk (talk) 22:38, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

the main part of that bone (which kept the maxilla from being part of the margin of the narial opening) – reads like the "which" would refer to the main part of the maxilla.

I split this into two sentences. FunkMonk (talk) 22:38, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The maxillary process of the premaxilla extended hindwards to the same level as the nasal process there. – Why the "there"? Both processes are at very different locations.

It was to explain that they are both parts of the premaxilla (as the nasal process isn't presented elsewhere, and the reader might not know where it is), but I have removed "there" now. FunkMonk (talk) 22:38, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The lower parts of the premaxillae were not fused together – but you already stated that the premaxillae are not fused at all? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 21:27, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Changed to "Due to not being fused together, the premaxillae had a fissure along their lower midline" (that they were not fused has to be reiterated here for context, I think). FunkMonk (talk) 22:38, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

On the lower side, the maxilla formed an extensive shelf … – on the inner side?

The source says "Ventrally, the longitudinally extensive shelf of the maxilla contributes to the large secondary palate and it extends posteriorly from the contact with the premaxilla". I have of course simplified this a lot, but I don't think there would be conciser ways to translate "ventrally" in this context? FunkMonk (talk) 10:15, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

the fifteenth tooth was the largest, and those further back were smaller. – if the fifteenth tooth was the largest, all the others must be smaller. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 14:03, 12 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Right, removed (the source only specified to clarify this is known only from the size of the alveoli, so not really relevant here because I don't go into that much detail about which teeth are preserved or not). FunkMonk (talk) 10:15, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Rest is all fine (I made some copy edits as I went). Congrats! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 19:14, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the copy edits, seems I had left some pretty indefensible mistakes in there! FunkMonk (talk) 22:45, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]