Template:Did you know nominations/Acropyga exsanguis

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by BlueMoonset (talk) 06:53, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

Acropyga exsanguis, Geococcus coffeae

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~~... that Acropyga exsanguis, a species of ant that lives underground, may take a mealybug with it on its nuptial flight?~~

Reviewed: Roy Wilkins Park
Comment: Also reviewed Template:Did you know nominations/Henry Eastburn

Created by Cwmhiraeth (talk). Self-nominated at 10:15, 21 January 2020 (UTC).

ALT1 ~~... that a queen Acropyga exsanguis ant may carry a fertilised female mealybug with her to live in her new nest?~~

I suggested the Alt because I think it has a bigger wow-factor and uses less jargon User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk 16:32, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

I am happy with ALT1. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 19:28, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Both articles are long enough, new enough, neutral and with decent sourcing. No other issues detected. Happy with 2 QPQs. Hooks are interesting, I prefer ALT1 as it contains less jargon. Just had a question re the hook, the source says that on nuptial flights the ants always carry rhizoecus coffee mealybug, is Geococcus coffeae only one species of these? Just wondering where you got the list of species in the ant article from. Achaea (talk) 19:44, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

@Achaea: Various sources are not entirely consistent. Considering that the ant's behaviour is so little known, it is difficult to be sure that the queen "always" takes a mealybug with her. I can't now find where the list of mealybugs comes from, and it looks as if I may have referenced that sentence wrongly. I'm going to leave it till tomorrow to sort out. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 20:25, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

@Cwmhiraeth: That's fair. If you can ping me when you've sorted that out, I'll add the tick. Achaea (talk) 20:40, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

@Achaea: I found the information about associated mealybugs and have referenced it, but I decided the hook was inaccurate, because I had misinterpreted the source when it stated "always carry a fertilized rhizoecus coffee mealybug female in their mandibles". So I am proposing ALT2. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 13:53, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

ALT2 ... that the ant Acropyga exsanguis shares its nest with several species of mealybug, including Geococcus coffeae?

@Cwmhiraeth: I like ALT2, just one quick question: has the ant been seen to share with multiple species at the same time, or will it stick with one species? The ALT suggest the first case to me, which is why I wanted to clarify. Achaea (talk) 15:44, 26 January 2020 (UTC)

- @Achaea: As far as I understand the position, the ant carries mealybugs into the nest and feeds on the honeydew. I doubt there have been any studies done on whether they have multiple mealybug species in the nest at any one time. Living as it does underground, the ant seems very poorly known. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 19:41, 26 January 2020 (UTC)

@Cwmhiraeth: Thanks for the explanation, happy to accept with ALT2. Achaea (talk) 09:21, 27 January 2020 (UTC)