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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by SandyGeorgia 02:55, 2 October 2010 [1].

Miniopterus griveaudi

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Miniopterus griveaudi (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): Ucucha 21:50, 16 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Until a few years ago, it was thought that there was a single species of small Miniopterus bat on Madagascar and the Comoros. However, we now know that there are at least five species in this group, and this is one of the best known. I am looking forward to any reviews. Ucucha 21:50, 16 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, taking a read.

  • "not each others' closest" Not sure that apostrophe is correct- why after the s? Counter examples from BBC and The Times
    • You're right, changed.
  • "M. manavi, M. mahafaliensis, and M. brachytragos have a densely covered uropatagium" Have densely covered uropatagia?
    • Changed.
  • Could we perhaps have definitions of those technical terms with regards to the skull? Without an article to link to, the reader hasn't got a chance.
    • Added some explanations.
  • "Little is known of the diet of M. brachytragos, but species of Miniopterus generally feed on insects." Is that what the source actually says, or does the cited source only mention the second part?
    • No, only the first; I added some discussion that is directly sourced from Goodman et al. (2009b) in order to make the point implicitly.
  • "Miniopterus griveaudi was assessed as "Data Deficient" on the IUCN Red List in 2008, but the account predates the recognition of the species on Anjouan and Madagascar.[1]" Again, does the reference cover both parts of the sentence?
    • No; moved the ref. to clarify that.
  • "(crown-rump length 14 to 19 mm, 0.6 to 0.7 in)," What does that mean?
    • Measurements of the embryos; clarified.
  • "Females collected on Grande Comore in November were pregnant, but data on reproduction is limited and suggests individual and inter-island variation." That's not actually a summary of what is said further down the article.

Hope that helps. J Milburn (talk) 00:20, 17 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It does; thanks for the review. Ucucha 13:23, 17 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sources comment: all sources and citations look OK. Brianboulton (talk) 22:46, 17 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  • as a subspecies of the mainland African species M. minor, Miniopterus minor griveaudi. — maybe less clunky as as a subspecies, Miniopterus minor griveaudi, of the mainland African species M. minor.?
  • Yes.
  • Flying bats have mostly been recorded in forests, but this may reflect a lack of survey effort in open areas. — Maybe Early flying bats... to strengthen the link with the previous sentence?
  • Comment. I think the length of the article is perfectly fine for a single species of bat. It would be nice, however, to have an image to illustrate the article. Although I wasn't able to find any photographs of the full bat on Google, it looks like there might be published images of the skull. Perhaps you could email the author of the paper which includes the skull images and ask if they could be donated. Just an idea :) Kaldari (talk) 00:31, 24 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comments by Sasata (talk) 05:22, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for the review! Ucucha 12:51, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • link rostrum
  • why no citation to whatever 1959 paper Harrison published his findings in?
  • how about a range map? Maybe a combined one with all the new Miniopterus species?
    • That would be too busy, given that four of them may occur in the same place. I will ask Visionholder to make a map.
  • link classification
    • Done.
  • based on a quick search it appears as if Randolph Peterson is worthy of a redlink
  • "Nicole Weyeneth and colleagues found that examined specimens …" isn't "examined" redundant here?
    • No, since though there were only two groups in the "M. manavi" they examined, there were at least three more in specimens they did not examine.
  • "Cyt b sequences did not support a close relationship between M. griveaudi and any one other species of African and Malagasy Miniopterus." not sure if this is correct… "any one of the other species"? "any other species"?
    • Fully reworded the sentence. It's clearly part of the Afro-Malagasy clade, but relationships among the species within that clade are poorly resolved.
  • There's non-breaking spaces missing in some short binomials
    • Fixed, I think.
  • buffish, braincase - link
    • Done.
  • "Individuals of M. griveaudi have been found to leave a Grande Comore cave at sunset, while it is still light." I'm not familiar with the habits of bats—is this unusual?
    • Well, they tend to be nocturnal. I removed the "while it is still light" part, which was redundant.
  • How is reproductive activity in male bats determined?
    • Apparently (Goodman et al. 2010:131), they have convoluted epididymes when not reproductively active; the epididymes have to open to transport sperm. Do you think this should be in the article? It seems marginal to me.
  • Comment – "Females collected on Grande Comore in November were pregnant". If the lead is the only part of the article one read, they'd think that this was November of last year. You have to read the body to see that this means November 2006. To avoid confusion, I think the year should be added to the lead as well. Giants2008 (27 and counting) 02:21, 2 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • I didn't mention the year because it is not the year that is important, but the season when the females were pregnant. I am open to suggestions for better wording, though—perhaps adding the year is the best option. Ucucha 02:37, 2 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]


The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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