Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles

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[edit] Parentage

Why is this a daughter project of Project Dinosaurs? It should probably be listed separately under Tree of Life.Dinoguy2 14:42, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree, I think that Dinosaurs should be a daughter project of amphibians. The problem, I think, is that it was created before this one. --liquidGhoul 08:25, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

I only put the Dinosaur Wikiproject there as it was created before our, but if you want to change it then we should have something other than amphibians, maybe the fish, or just The tree of life? Enlil Ninlil 09:57, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

The Dinosaur Wikiproject shouldn't be a daughter of Amphibians and Reptiles. I think it's accepted that dinosaurs are a separate order, as are birds and mammals. Image:Tycon.jpgCoyoty 20:08, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Taxonomy

The Dinosaur project has adopted Benton's 2004 taxonomy [1] for use in the classification sections. Should we do the same here? Either way, we should definitely decide on a standard classification to use, since those for amphibians can vary widely.Dinoguy2 14:49, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

That seems alright, but does it go further than order? --liquidGhoul 08:25, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
Benton 2004 and the Tree of Life website differ radically re early tetrapod (Paleozoic Amphibians) phylogeny. I don't know which should be used - I guess there is no consensus re early tetrapod relationships. My preference would be to show all the classification schemes on the main pages, but yeah we need to decide on one for the taxobox. Maybe Benton 2004 except where the group has been revised by more recent research M Alan Kazlev 11:49, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, this basically what we do at the Dino project anyway. The main point of contention for me at the moment is the inclusion of Reptiliomorphs and "Ichthyostegalians" within class Amphibia, which hasn't been done since the '60s. As far as I know, most workers now use a monophyletic crown Amphibia, which sometimes includes temnospondyls anyway. In my opinion, we should follow this, and list no class for reptilimorphs and ichthyostegalians, just superclass (tetrapoda). Lanyrynthodontia should be replaced with Temnospondyli on the main amphibian page, at least.Dinoguy2 16:21, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
Well Laby's include Anthracosaurs/batrachosaurs as well, and these are not Temnospondyls, as well as basal groups like Colosteidae (which are Temnospondyls up until Carroll 1988, but generally not subsequent to that), Baphetidae, etc. So, yeah, I agree, scrap eccentric and not widely used classes and subclasses, and have basal groups separate (at family ranking). The problem with Class Amphibia is that it is used to mean anything nowadays from non-amniote tetrapods to Lissamphibia! M Alan Kazlev 22:45, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
So Benton's Taxonomy should suffice for now becaues everyone has access to it and we can come to a consenses easier. And with the class amphibia, where would we put all the non-amniote tetrapods to Lissamphibia species that dont fit? So hard. Enlil Ninlil 10:07, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
They don't need to have a class. Just list them under superclass Tetrapoda. Class Amphibia should only include true amphibians. I've altered a few relevant pages to reflect this change.Dinoguy2 22:47, 14 April 2006 (UTC)


I see we're a little paleo-biased here, huh? If anyone's interested in taxonomy of the extant groups, the whole show got a major overhaul in the past couple of weeks. But watch out, it's a 400-page pdf. [2] Pstevendactylus 01:20, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Reptiles or amphibians? (I am a little scared of entering at the moment). --liquidGhoul 04:20, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thanks for the invite. I'll add what I can. Right now, I'm working on mosasaurs and other pythonomorphs, including fossil snakes, but I can probably get in some work on living taxa, as well. --Nar'eth 18:33, 14 April 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Photography project

I reckon we should have a small project to get things rolling, and get people interested, and signing up. I have been trying to fill up List of Anuran families with an example photo from each family. Maybe we can ask people at the Community Portal if they have good quality, good copyright (I have been avoiding copyrighted images) frog photos of the missing families, because I have hit a wall with the ones available on Wikipedia. I have added all the Australian families myself, except of course Rheobatrachidae, as it is thought to be extinct, and need help from people around the world. What does everyone think? I think if it is successful, we could make other lists similar to this, for all the living reptile and amphibian orders. It would make for a different type of recruitment statement on the community portal as well. --liquidGhoul 14:40, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

That would be a great idea, I have a photo of a frog I hope you could identify? Maybe when we have time to visit a Zoo or Museum ad take some photos of reptiles and Amphibians too? Enlil Ninlil 05:47, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Cool, so I am thinking of the line to use in the Community Portal, how is:
WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles is looking for frog photos to fill the gaps in the List of Anuran families table. If you have a photo from a family not represented with a photo, please Upoad It, and add it to the article. Also, if you have an amphibian or reptile photo you would like identified, please leave a message on the project talk page.
Any thoughts, any suggestions? --liquidGhoul 11:36, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Added an extra sentence for suggestion from Enlil Ninlil. --liquidGhoul 02:57, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
That is fine, we should not make it to long of cumbersome, short and sweet is fine. Enlil Ninlil 03:03, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
It is up. --liquidGhoul 03:23, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
Had to remove the last sentence, as it was too long, and someone saw it as a loophole to get the project "mentioned". I saw his point, but didn't want to lose chance of adding more content to the list as it is as (if not more) genuine/related to the production of an encyclopaedia than some of the other notices. --liquidGhoul 12:27, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Names and titles

I have removed the links to Wikiproject Birds for most of the sections in the project page, and replaced with a modified version of the text from the link. However, I don't know what to do yet for "Naming and titles". We cannot do it the same way WikiProject Birds does, because birds have strict rules in regard to common names (e.g. official common names, always capitalise). I think we should discuss this before putting it up on the project page. What do we want in regards to naming conventions? Obviously, we should name all the living species based on their most common common name (leave the judging of what is most common up to the author, if anyone disagrees to a decision, it can be discussed).

As for capitalisation, I like to have all-caps, e.g. White's Tree Frog, for species names and no caps for common genus, family etc, e.g. frog, tree frog. I think non-caps for levels above species is normal, but capitalisation for species names is contended, and there is no concrete rules - except for birds. For this reason, I think we should just follow the Tree of Life convention, and leave it up to the author of the article. This does, however, create inconsistencies that I do not like. For example, for a while, some of the species in the genus: Litoria, were caps, and some were not. As I was the main contributor to most of the articles in that genus I was able to change them all to be consistent, and no-one was against it, however I can see problems if the genus is popular and has many contributors.

I have no idea of what to do for extinct species, so I will leave that up to the contributors who contribute in this area. --liquidGhoul 11:46, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

The genus name always begins with a Capital letter, and the species name is always lower case only (not sure if that's what you mean re Litoria)
As for extinct species, in Wikiproject dinosaurs, policy is to have the pages only by genus, but Enlil has included some pages on Permian Therapsids for individual species. I suppose if there is a lot of info on a prehistoric species, it can have its own page, otherwise the species should be included in the genus page (e.g. with Gorgonops I describe all the species, but none of them deserve their own page). In any case, even those species that do have their own pages need a genus parent page; when i have time I'll do one for Estemmenosuchus -- M Alan Kazlev 12:54, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I was talking about capitalisation in common names not binomial names. It is always the same for binomial names. --liquidGhoul 13:26, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I only done a separate page for extinct species because I lack sufficient information on the Genus, for now we should leave it and fix it up later. As with Mammals the first characters are named as in Gilbert's Dunnart with some exceptions like Slender-tailed Dunnart. I believe this should be the go. So I believe we should follow LiquidGhouls advice, he's the expert. Enlil Ninlil 07:35, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, that is the way I do it. Actually, I have noticed that the Hyla articles use lower case for all their common names, so that is a bit of a problem. The reason I don't like them, is that they are a little too ambiguous. If you say "green tree frog", the reader is unaware of whether you are talking about a tree frog which is green (lots of them), or a specific species (still lots of Green Tree Frogs, but much less than the former). --liquidGhoul 11:40, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
The Hyla is not standardised as in: blue-eyed tree frog, Cope's gray tree frog and common Chinese tree frog Enlil Ninlil 22:22, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Of course "Chinese", "Cope", etal, are proper nouns and should always be capitalized regardless of context, whereas "green" is not, it is an adjective describing the noun. No matter how much I think it uglies up the text, I'm pretty sure most literary sources agree that the whole names, even outside of biology, are considered to be proper nouns, and is thus capitalized. -Dawson 15:15, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tetrapod of Fish?

I found this article on the National Science Foundation and don’t know what to make of the species called Tiktaalik, its like diplocaulus(my fav) or Ichthyostega amazing. New Fossils Fill the Evolutionary Gap Between Fish and Land Animals Tiktaalik hay there quick.

Also this might be of interest?Anatomy Enlil Ninlil 06:14, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List for Features

I don't know if this would work, but it would be good to have some goals to achieve. So, I will make a list of the article that most need to become featured quality. This is based on how much they would be visited. I am mostly going to do frogs, so can someone do the prehistoric AAR, and the reptiles I miss.

Featured articles:

Cane Toad (FEATURED)
Poison Dart Frog
Gastric-brooding frog (probably not all that visited, but it is an important animal)
Tuatara (lots of people are working on this at the moment)
Snake (has a lot of content so may be close)
Turtle (little less content, but also has lots of potential)
Sea Turtle (not too sure about this one)
Lizard

Featured Lists:

Tree Frog (maybe featured article, depends on the amount of content available)
List of Anuran families (FEATURED)

I could add more, but I am a little scared, as that list is starting to get large. I will be working on the Cane Toad article next. If you are bored, please try and tackle one of these articles next. Wouldn't it be great for all those articles to be featured? --liquidGhoul 23:51, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cane Toad naming discussion

Can I get some people's input into the current discussion at Talk:Giant Neotropical Toad#Common name. I thought it would be relatively easy, but it seems there are people there that are making it difficult. --liquidGhoul 23:32, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalisation of common names for species

After having an incredibly long and useless discussion on Talk:Giant Neotropical Toad, I would be very happy in having a concrete rule for capitalisation of common names, for species, within our articles. Here is a pole, just to see where everyone is at. It would be incredibly brilliant to just fight it out here, and never have to discuss it at length for each article.

Complete Capitalisation (e.g. White's Tree Frog, Superb Fairy-wren)

  1. liquidGhoul 13:54, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

No Capitalisation (e.g. green tree frog, Chinese tree frog)

Other (please state)

Obviously this pole will not have any power, as that is not how concensus works. So, I will be placing below, a pro and con table for each option. Please add to it.

- Pro Con
Complete Capitalisation *Removes ambiguity as to groups of animals. E.g. "Martin pointed at three green tree frogs", and "Martin pointed at three Green Tree Frogs". In the first statement, you are unsure whether Martin is pointing to three frogs which are green or a specific species known as "green tree frogs", they could all be different species. In the second statement, it is obvious he is pointing to three specimens of a species commonly known as a "Green Tree Frog".
*Specific species should be proper nouns, as it is describing something unique.		 I don't know, someone else could fill this in.
No Capitalisation Someone who supports this can fill this in *Ambiguous, as stated in other pro

[edit] Flickr trawl

I had a look at Creative Commons frog pictures on flickr, and there are quite a few; however, they are not usually identified. I don't know whether anyone here would feel competent to identify them to genus or species based only on a photograph?

Examples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kakissel/133257780/ (I think this is a Grey Treefrog Hyla versicolor, but could be wrong. Also H. versicolor and H. chrysocelis are technically impossible to tell apart without genetics or voice. Pstevendactylus 15:18, 8 May 2006 (UTC))

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80415664@N00/116289244/in/set-72057594089433807/ (White's Tree Frog, Litoria caerulea)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80415664@N00/116285264/in/set-72057594089433807/ (he/she has a whole bunch of them) (Dainty Green Tree Frog, Litoria gracilenta)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/131680007/ (This is an Agalychnis for sure, but I'm not comfortable naming the species from the photo)Pstevendactylus 15:15, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/merfam/122951245/

Samsara (talk • contribs) 22:06, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

The person with a whole bunch of them has only L. caerulea and L. gracilenta. I have labelled them above in brackets. We have plenty of L. caerulea photos, but no L. gracilenta, so I would be happy to use them, however I do not know the licencing behind them. Anyone know? I will ask User:Pstevendactylus if he can identify the others. Thanks alot. --liquidGhoul 23:28, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Woops, just read above, I will import the best Litoria gracileta one now. --liquidGhoul 13:02, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
OK, I have uploaded the image, and created the article. --liquidGhoul 13:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mesosuchia

Ok im back and bad as ever, need more info and some references for ths article. Can anyone help like Dinoguy2? Enlil Ninlil 05:49, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

The only good ref online seems to be the phylogeny at [3]. The problem is that Mesosuchia is a paraphyletic group, and I doubt you'll find much information discussing the group as a whole. Better to look up individual families or genera.Dinoguy2 12:27, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
I found some links but will put on later. Enlil Ninlil 17:56, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cane Toad for peer review

Cane Toad is up for peer review here. If you would like to contribute, please do. --liquidGhoul 06:57, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Cane Toad is now up for featured article candidacy. Please vote for it here. Thankyou --liquidGhoul 05:12, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
Cane Toad is now featured!!! Thanks to all who contributed and voted. --liquidGhoul 02:10, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Genera lists

I got bored and I made these lists.

So you know what you're up against in terms of these prehistoric reptiles ;) Dracontes 15:22, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Edited list of pterosaurs and created a list of pterosaur classifications Dracontes 18:30, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Those are neat lists! I added the category for each page. Strictly speaking for the list of pterosaur classifications, you should include bibliographical references as well. M Alan Kazlev 07:38, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
More or less done, (you should give a gander to make sure). I also made a list of ichthyosaurs. It's a bit short but hopefully with more discoveries it will fill up ;-) Dracontes 17:10, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
Cool, those references look good! (I don't have access to all the papers, but it looks legit). And all those alphabetical lists are really good too; maybe there should be a category called something like "alphabetical lists of genera" wellyou can decide what to call it). That way all the lists can be easily accessed from one page M Alan Kazlev 23:44, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
I copy/pasted them from Mikko's pertinent references for lack of a better source :-] I'm not too sure if David Peters's classification is all that legitimate and also of the URL of his former site.
I have quite a number of those lists in my to-do list so you can count on them to fill in the Category: Lists of Genera and also, why not, Category: Lists of classifications (with the pertinent lists, of course). Dracontes 17:50, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
I've got pretty much all the primary lit on most mosasaur taxa, including the 19th-Century lit, and I've been meaning to make more headway from the mosasauroids, but keep getting distracted by dino articles. I'll try to post a list of mosasauroid taxa sometime in the next few days.--Nar'eth 19:34, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
Dracontes, Mikko's website is very good, although obviously not an authoritative refernce. However he certainly has made it heaps easier than combing through all the primary references!  ;-) I did a write up on his site, so when you refer to it just add a link (Also if you want to add more to that page please feel free). Eventually I want to have brief bios and stubs on all paleontologists, major books, journals, publishers, paleontology websites etc.
I don't know of anyone who follows David Peters theory that Pterosaurs evolved from Prolacertiformes. Anyway if Pterosaurs were warm-blooded (which seems to be the case because of their fur) it is unlikely they would have evolved from ectothermic Prolacertiformes; rather they share the same sort pof "protofeathers" as dinosaurs do, indicating that endothermy may be an ornithodiran trait (so Bob Bakker was right after all!). I cannot comment on Peters' pterosaur cladograms; I just aren't knowledgable enough in that field. But I did love his website; it's a crying shame it was taken down; I always regret not archiving it beforehand :-(
Nar'eth, a Mosasaur list sounds good! I notice you've created some excellent mosasaur pages too!
M Alan Kazlev 00:38, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of Anuran families FLC

Could people please vote at this nomination. I put it through FLC last week, but it only got one vote (which was support). It needs more people to vote. Thanks --liquidGhoul 23:50, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New list - please help!

I just created List of Lacertilia families, in the same format as List of Anuran families. I created it from the taxonomy section of the Lizard article, so if you know anything about lizards, please go over it and look for errors. I have not yet gone through commons to look for more photos. I want to give it a rest for a while as I have been working on the list for over an hour. I did not include any of the extinct families. I am still considering whether I should do this, and am leaning towards doing it. If I do, I will need some help from the people here, as I know nothing. Thanks. --liquidGhoul 01:18, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

I have decided to include the extinct lacertilians, as I want to be able to get rid of the taxonomy list in Lizard. Can someone go over the listed extinct families in the lizard article and see if it is "complete" (up-to-date is probably a better phrase)? --liquidGhoul 09:24, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
Does anyone have a resource which lists the authorities for Lacertilians? I am having difficulty finding many. --liquidGhoul 12:04, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
Euroherp[4], ITIS[5] and Wikispecies (though unsourced there) have many. -Dawson 15:39, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
How come I can never access ITIS. I have tried heaps of times, but it always times out. I assumed it was shut down, but I'm guessing it isn't? Thanks for the links. --liquidGhoul 15:57, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
Their database is notoriously unreliable. Some days it is really snappy, other days it is just glacially slow, and other days it is down entirely. Often, searching their system with Google is a faster way to find what you want, and that way you can also look at cached stuff if their database is being stupid. -Dawson 16:01, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
I have tried that also, and I get the Google banner at the top, but the rest of it doesn't load. I am thinking it doesn't like my computer (doesn't support Linux?) --liquidGhoul 16:07, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
Ignore that, the Google cache is just beginning to work, it is extremely slow though. --liquidGhoul 16:08, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

While we're making fancy lists, I threw together List of Serpentes families, using your Lacertilia list as a template but I based the sections on superfamily rather than infraorder just to split it up a big better. I'm rather dismayed at the number of redlinks, looks like there is some work to do. :) -Dawson 20:30, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

The lack of images is kind of bad aswell. I can understand though, most people don't take photos of snakes. Also, I think having a family which has half the species of all snakes doesn't help either. There is only one more list I want to make (I think), which is List of Testudines families, however that group also has extinct families, and I am still unsure of what to do with them. --liquidGhoul 05:11, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

I have created the table list in the Salamander article. It turned out really good, only one family without a photo! --liquidGhoul 08:46, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Crotaphytus bicinctores

Can anoyone please verify that the picture that I included in the taxobox is correct? I am not an expert, but this image apeared to me as this species owing to location. Thanks, Leonard G. 01:27, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't think that's a Crotophytus. I'm pretty sure it's Sceloporus. Looks like S. magister, but I'm not absolutely sure about the species. Pstevendactylus 02:03, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
Here are some links with pictures.

1 2 58.107.40.63 08:43, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Therapsid pages

It seems to me that, since there is only one species of Eotitanosuchus, Eotitanosuchus olsoni should be renamed Eotitanosuchus. Also, Biarmosuchus tener should be renamed Biarmosuchus. Unfortunately I had already made redirect pages, so these would have to deleted. Does anyone here have admin privelages to be able to do that? Otherwise we can ask at the double redirect page

We can keep pages for each of the two Estemmenosuchus species because they are quite distinct in apperance, and there are separate illustrations for each on the internet. M Alan Kazlev 07:38, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

An accepted convention used in Wikipedia is that one a genus or family is monotypic the article is named for the species and the family and genus are redirects, exactly as Eotitanosuchus olsoni is now. Example, Osprey. Joelito (talk) 14:35, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
The problem is that another convention is to title the article after the common name for a species. The title of your example isn't Pandion haliaetus, it's Ospery. For most prehistoric species, the generic name is as close as you're going to get to a common name. Full binomials are hardly ever used, especially for monotypic genera, with rare exceptions like Tyrannosaurus rex. For this reason, related projects like WP:Dinosaurs has a guideline that only generic names be used as titles. I'd take that into consideration when deciding what to do with the prehistoric species in this project as well.Dinoguy2 17:13, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
I definitely think there should be the option for a separate page for each paleo-species, just as there are for recent species. Especially since the genus is an artificial category (okay we'll ignore philosophical problems of defining a species, especially in organism like bacteria that reproduce by binary fission, but I'm talking about metazoa here). Most vertebrate paleontologists like to give each species its own genus, so it is obvious that many current dino genera are oversplit, and cladistic trees don't help matters with old (but otherwise valid; i don't mean wastebin taxa) paraphyletic genera, each species has to be given its own genus since it constitutes a distinct terminal taxon e.g. Plateosaurus (now split into several genera). But if a new cladogram shows the original genus to be monophyletic, what happens to all the secondary genera? The same problems apply to other groups, e.g. ichthyosaurs; consider Excalibosaurus and Eurhinosaurus. So in this context yes, the generic name can serve as a sort of informal common name, e.g. "Excalibosaurus" (without the italics if it is a common name) would in that case be the common name for Eurhinosaurus costini (McGowan, 1986). Even so, each of the various species of Tyrannosaurus definitely each deserve their own page, as there is more info on them than on many less well known dinos. Same could be said for other well-known species of the same genus which differ - e.g. Stegosaurus, Apatosaurus, Pteranodon etc M Alan Kazlev 09:23, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Amphibian/Reptile Barnstars

Just a thought, but maybe we can have a couple of barnstars for people that do excellent work on Amphibian and Reptile articles. I know some people would already deserve one. I've knocked up an Amphibian barnstar. Maybe someone else could make a reptile barnstar.

Image Name Description
Amphibian Barnstar The "Unofficial" Amphibian Barnstar The "Unofficial" Amphibian Barnstar may be awarded to an editor in recognition of his or her knowledge and exceptional contributions to Wikipedia's articles on Amphibians .


Image Name Description
Reptile Barnstar The "Unofficial" Reptile Barnstar The "Unofficial" Reptile Barnstar may be awarded to an editor in recognition of his or her knowledge and exceptional contributions to Wikipedia's articles on Reptiles .


Good idea or not? Please leave comments. Froggydarb 07:24, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it is neccesary (although it looks brilliant, good work!). We only just got the Image:Bio barnstar2.png, which is for Wikipedia: WikiProject Biology, and its descendents. Not enough users would qualify to make this one official, though you can just issue it without the need for officiality, as there are lots of strange awards out there, like the "Mail Pouch Barn" award for User:Fir0002 and I have the "Potentially Aposematic Tadpole Award." --liquidGhoul 07:48, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
I like it, and don't see why we can't have a few of our own "unofficial" barnstars, if for any reason to draw more attention to the project via userpages. -Dawson 17:16, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Yeah thats what I meant, not really having it as an "offical" barnstar but maybe just on the on the AAR project page as an award. :) Froggydarb 03:38, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, I like that idea. You can put it on the main page under Awards or something. --liquidGhoul 03:52, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
I've uploaded an Reptile Barnstar if no one objects I will put it no the project page. Froggydarb 09:24, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
No objection, but could you make the scales go further back, so they stop at the inside corner on the left of the star? I have also removed the extra "the" in the above sentences. --liquidGhoul 09:30, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Yep that is alright. Is that what you meant? Froggydarb 11:21, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Yes, thanks. --liquidGhoul 11:25, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Collaborative project?

Since Cane Toad is now featured, thought perhaps we could as a group and try to bring New Caledonian crested gecko to featured quality next, since we use it as our example for a taxobox on the project's page, would probably be nice if it too was a FA as well. Thoughts? -Dawson 17:16, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm in, though I cannot do heaps of work until I finish exams on Monday. I would like to have collaborations as a normal thing on here, though they should be proper collaborations, where we don't go onto another project until the current one is finished. New Caledonian crested gecko is a nice and long article, this shouldn't be too hard, though it needs lots of references. --liquidGhoul 03:52, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Ick, exams... guess it is that time of year. It is a nice long article, with a lot of information in desperate need of referencing - though a good chunk is dedicated to captive care, which sort of falls under a "How to..." and thus by many people's standards, WP:NOT. -Dawson 05:03, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Paleozoic tetrapod families

Just finished Carboniferous tetrapods, to go alongside Permian tetrapods. Lot of red links there - obviously most of these families are poorly known! I'd like to eventually have a page like this for the periods of the Mesozoic, but it depends when I get round to it. M Alan Kazlev 08:29, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] identification

Enlarge

Can anybody identify this critter?Circeus 13:26, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

It is a Rana species, where abouts is it from? I think it is probably a Moor frog or Common frog.--Tnarg 12345 12:00, 29 June 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Frog template

I created this template, based on the butterfly family templates. Should I add it to the frog and frog family articles? --liquidGhoul 06:33, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Yep, sounds good. However, I think that the family names should be aligned to the centre. Froggydarb 07:10, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unidentified lizard

Unidentified lizard
Enlarge
Unidentified lizard

Hi. I took this picture of a lizard in a French forest (near Lyon). I posted it on WP:TOL but no one could ID it for me. Any suggestions? IronChris | (talk) 14:10, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

It might be a good idea to ask someone who can speak French to ask on the French Wikipedia. --liquidGhoul 14:24, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Featured list candidate

Another list is up for featured list, this time List of Testudines families. The voting page is here. Please have your say. Thankyou. --liquidGhoul 00:00, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

So far, only a few people have voted. It needs at least four votes to get through, so if someone has the time could you please vote. I don't mind if it is oppose, as long as it is something I can fix. I just don't want to have to unnecessarily go through the process again, like I did with List of Anuran families. Thankyou. --liquidGhoul 10:43, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks everyone, it is now a featured list! Another to add to the list :). --liquidGhoul 13:41, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Toad pictures I took

Could someone take a look at these pictures I took of what I think is a toad and tell me what type of toad and whether I should bother uploading any to wikipedia/commons? They were taken in the middle of Connecticut. Thanks. Salur 00:41, 4 August 2006 (UTC) Front view of toad with flash Side view of toad with flash Side view of toad without flash Front view of toad with flash (blurry)

It is very hard to tell with those photos. There is usually very little differentiating the species of toad. The best indicator, are the shape and size of the parotoid glands (on the back of the head). Do you have any top down photos?
I will give you a quick guide of how to photograph frogs/toads for identification. One side on (like the 2nd photo you took), one of the belly (E.g. this is harder for some species as they don't like being on their back), one of the inner thigh (e.g.) and one straight down on their back. But, try not to stress the frog out, and be very gentle. Also, clean your hands after handling. This is for two reasons. A lot of the toads are very poisonous, and you can spread disease if you handle more than one frog. Thanks --liquidGhoul 04:53, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure if I have any top down photos good enough to help you tell. This one is the closest thing I have to a top down photo but it's probably too blurry to help. This one is more a view of the back side of the toad than a top down, but it's less blurry. In both of them there's a lot less background and a lot less toad than the other 4. Sorry if that's not enough. Salur 17:27, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
American Toad, (Bufo americanus). Here is what I used to identify. Thanks --liquidGhoul 23:27, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Section and figure illustrating taxonomic features

I am thinking of section with illustrations showing how nostril, tympanum, eye, vomerine teeth, toe discs, leg extension (tibiotarsal articulation reaching eye!), tubercles, webbing etcetera are used for identification. This would go into the frog article and be referred to in descriptions. Any comments/suggestions. thanks Shyamal 04:40, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Frog zoology was created ages ago. It was reduced during the expansion of frog, but is reserved for the more complicated things to do with frogs. --liquidGhoul 04:42, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, I was unaware of that article. That seems to be the place for all boring stuff to go ;) Shyamal 04:53, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Green and Golden Bell Frog

The Green and Golden Bell Frog article has recently gone through a peer review and is now up for FAC, please vote here. Thanks -- Froggydarb croak 02:08, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Snake scales articles

Hi, I am writing an article on snake scales which is presently located here. Comments desired please. I also request if you can point me to any free or suitable resources for this article. Thanks, AshLin 23:11, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

It is looking good. I will give it a copyedit once you have released it onto the main namespace. It is well referenced as well. The main thing at the moment, would be to get rid of the "Introduction" header, that text should be above the TOC. I don't know any free references. --liquidGhoul 00:45, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
I agree it is very good with basic english which is important, as to technicle an article a lay person wont understand. I will look forward to its completion. Enlil Ninlil 06:25, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
Hi all, am upto version 0.5 of User:AshLin/Snake scales. Have incorporated material from govt websites (what I consider public domain). Have footnoted them too. Comments please on the talk pages of this effort of mine. Regards, AshLin 09:00, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

The article is now up on main namespace and open for cpeds. I have added images, more references , reorganised and now request cpeds & peer review. Regards, AshLin 12:30, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Images repository

I see a request for the community to help add images to a category:frog images. IMHO this is correctly a WikiMedia and not meant for Wikipedia. It may be more appropriate to add a project page for users to understand Wikimedia. AshLin 14:30, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I think you got things a little mixed up. There was a call for photos for List of Anuran families, but this was outdated, and I have removed it. The cateogory for frog images was created during the expansion of frog to featured status. It is just to make it easier for people to find the frog photos on Wikipedia. It is not really a project, just a convenience. Thanks --liquidGhoul 14:56, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Templates

Please add a section for stubs, templates, family boxes etc as has been done for WikiProject Arthropods. AshLin 14:30, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I have added the stubs and categorisation information. I don't know what a family box is, and couldn't find it on WikiProject Arthropods. Thanks --liquidGhoul 14:54, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
For want of a term, I called it a family box. Actually I was referring to the template you already made Template:Anura and one I made following your lead Template:Snake_families. Regards & thanks. PS looking forward to your cped on snake scales. AshLin 15:18, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
Ah, well I don't think it is necessary to add it to the page. If you have created one for the snakes, add it to all the snake family articles as well as snake. There is no need to inform people how to do this, as it will already be done :). I will do the copyedit this Thursday or Friday, I am pretty busy at the moment. Thanks --liquidGhoul 15:24, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
I don't like having the family tables on this page. They are not described properly, and look as though you should add them to every frog or snake article. They should only be added to the family articles, like Bufonidae, and the parent article, like frog. This doesn't take much effort (and is already done for the frogs), and doesn't really need to involve the community. Thanks --liquidGhoul 22:43, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
I have removed the display and changed the wording to a more appropriate one. I however feel, it should continue to be mentioned in the section for sake of completeness. AshLin 02:42, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
They only need to be added to the family articles. Once that is done, the task is complete and doesn't need recruitment from other AAR members. It is already complete with the Anurans, and if you want I can do it to the snake family articles for you. --liquidGhoul 07:29, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
You are welcome to add the snake family template to any other articles. As regards displaying, I still feel that the project page should show all the work and related information (albeit with changing importance). If you do not concur, you are welcome to remove the family templates. I was only following standard practice of WikiProject Lepidoptera where I hang out (or rather, used to). AshLin 12:58, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
What do you mean by work and related information? --liquidGhoul 13:02, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
Like the templates for example, they are concerned with the Project and should (imho) be displayed to show what work people connected with the project have been doing. This is just an opinion and projects can be either extremely 'well-furnished' or 'sparse' as the project wikipedians want. I was only expressing an opinion, I am willing to go along with the project wikipedians especially since I am new and not a major contributor. BTW, the Project really deserves a congratulations for getting Cane Toad up as a FA. My personal congratulations to all contributors.AshLin 18:09, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Categories

Just to let u know that the category situation for all animals is in a mess, I started a category for New Guinea, as the species on the Island are faily indiginous and ample. Category:Fauna of New Guinea. Thankyou Enlil Ninlil 07:00, 17 August 2006 (UTC) This was in reference to area of habitation not Taxa.

[edit] Task List and Progress

We need to do something to make this list more useful. Maybe create a table or subpage with our highest priorities, and put the progress on them. If we show the progress on everything, it might inpsire people to work on a particular article. Also are all the order articles created? --liquidGhoul 03:50, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

What list? -- Froggydarb croak 05:48, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
On the project page, under "Task List and Progress". --liquidGhoul 08:05, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
Yep, I agree with you. Maybe something like this:
  • Create article for each Order and Family

(a list of Orders and Families that haven't been created, or have been created and are stubs)

  • Create article for each Genus

(a list of Genus that haven't been created, or have been created and are stubs)
etc, etc.
-- Froggydarb croak 08:33, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] General taxonomy

There are many herpetological checklists available to use as a reference for classification. However, even if you don't own any actual books, just from hunting around on the Internet it soon becomes apparent that there are many different taxonomies out there. Yes, different: they often conflict. The question is then: who's taxonomy should we use?
My pet project around here is the Viperinae section, comprising about 100 taxa. When I started out, I quickly realized that I needed a single, taxonomic reference. I began by using the EMBL, which seems to be pretty popular; it's also used by the Animal Diversity Web, for example. However, it didn't take long before I started to notice... certain inconsistentcies. After a number of email discussions with Dr. Peter Uetz (they guy who's owns this project), I discovered to my dismay that many of the common names are simply made up (to be found nowhere else), that the geographical data is often interpollated and thus not accurate, and worst of all, that the taxonomy is sometimes pretty arbitrary! Finally, Dr. Uetz is a geneticist, not a herpetologist, and seems to gets much of his herpetological support from Dr. Wolfgang Wüster of the University of Bangor, Wales (mentioned as the consulting expert). As a result, it often seems to me that Wüster's personal opinions (and those of his associates!) seem to get preferential treatment at the EMBL -- hardly an example of consensus if you ask me.
Luckily, at one point or another this year I discovered another taxonomy source: ITIS. It may be more spartan than the EMBL, but it's a much bigger database and is certainly more authoritative; just check out the contributing sources! For info on snakes, their one and only source is McDiarmid, Campbell and Touré's 1999 Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1 (in which Wüster is only one of 21 reviewers). This book can be ordered on-line (I got mine from Koeltz Scientific Books) and is probably the most important taxonomic reference since Boulenger's Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) (1893-1896). I used this book together with ITIS as my primary taxonomic reference for the articles in the Viperinae section.
I would like to suggest that we all use ITIS as much as possible as a taxonomic reference here at Wikipedia, at least for articles on reptiles and amphibians. In a nutshell, it's authoritative and is also up to date without being too progressive: perfect for Wikipedia, since we don't want a source that changes its taxonomy too often. On the other hand, I still include EMBL links in all of my articles, if only to give readers an extra source of information and occasionally an alternative point of view. --Jwinius 14:32, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't fully agree. Yes, we should use as little variation as possible for our taxonomy, but I find the American Museum of Natural History so much more useful for the amphibians (unfortunately it doesn't have a database for reptiles). It is very up to date. However, I still have reservations about it. I think it is a little too up to date, and too conservative. It has split the Myobatrachids into three families, which was proposed a while ago and has since been refuted (it is being conservative here, as it is still belived to be by some, mainly Americans). It has also merged all Australian hylids, which is a problem, as the paper which merged them recently said that they weren't confident about it, and should wait for a paper (currently in progress) to come out before Australian Hylid taxonomy is changed (which will probably result in the creating of many genera). It jumped there far too early, hence the too up to date. I have one major problem with ITIS though. I have only ever been able to access it once without it timing out on me, and that time, I got to the home page, and nowhere else. I have since given up trying to access it, it pisses me off way too much. It is run by the US government, they have the money to buy servers!!! --liquidGhoul 14:45, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
From your description, the American Museum of Natural History is even more progressive than the EMBL! Is there an on-line version? But, it sounds like a minority opinion, so why bother? I admit that ITIS was having availability problems back in April-June of this year. It was frustrating: they were busy with some major hardware upgrades and migrations, but that's all behind them now -- they've been just fine for the past few months. --Jwinius 17:05, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, there is an online version, here. It is very common to use this instead of ITIS, the French Wikipedia, which I think has an article for every genus, follows this to the tee. I still can't access ITIS. I don't know if they block out Australia, but I have never able to on any computer. --liquidGhoul 22:46, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Are we going to adopt the changes to Myobatrachidae (it wasn't split into 3 families, Rheobatrachus is under Limnodynastidae)? I was going to write a taxonomy section on Rheobatrachus but didn't know whether to say that it was in Myobatrachidae (as Wiki has it) or Limnodynastidae (as it really is (at the moment anyway)). -- Froggydarb croak 08:50, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
The splitting of Myobatrachidae occured a while ago, and has never been accepted. I think Tyler shoots it down every time it occurs. The AMNH doen't want to seem controversial, but they haven't really succeeded. --liquidGhoul 11:08, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
I wouldn't jump too fast into adpoting the changes, there was lots of controversal stuff in that paper (merging Ascaphidae and Leiopelmatidae, aus hylids etc.) and Rheobatrachus along with Mixophyes were moved into Mytobatrachidae not Limnodynastidae. I think we should wqait a while for more papers to come out.--Tnarg12345 11:41, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
Considering the major part of that paper required living frogs, or DNA/RNA/protein, I can't see any justification for moving Rheobatrachus. I haven't read anything about the Leiopelmatidae, but am more inclined to believe it as less frogs need to be studied. They did not take enough specimens of Australian frogs to create a proper phylogenic tree, and they stated so in the paper. We need to wait for rebutals from Australian herpetologists before we implement any changes. --liquidGhoul 11:47, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
Hi! Knowledge about phylogenetic relationships for amphibians is much more advance than for reptiles. Amphibians are the subject of much more phylogenetic research than reptiles (in a worldwide perspective); and amphibians are, in a way, more charismatic than reptiles. Thus, public databases and available checklists are, usually, more complete for amphibians than for reptiles. The online database "Amphibian Species of the World 4.0, an Online Reference" and its main source the "Amphibian Tree of Life" published by Frost et al. (2006), provides the most updated information and phylogenetic classification for amphibians. The online database is unique in terms that it covers every amphibian species, and presents information based on trustable references (=scientific publication). The analyses by Frost et al. (2006) covered a wide range of species, and studied genetic information, together with morphological and behavioral data. I think that their results and conclusions are by far, very good. But as always in science, many new questions and new hypothesis araised. Also, some species and taxa were not either available or sampled enough as to get the best phylogenetic conclusions. I would suggest to follow the "Amphibian Tree of Life" as the most updated source for amphibian classification in a worldwide perspective, but not as the final word. New scientific publications will for sure, either propose new hypothesis, or confirm those presented by Frost et al. 2006. Since Wikipedia is not a place for original research, therefore, if some decides to follow Frost et al. 2006, it must be cited... if someone decides NOT to follow them, it must be cited why, and also who they are following instead. In terms of reptiles... McDiarmid et al. 1999 is the best available sources for reptile taxonomy... however, now there are many new publications that have changed the classification of some groups. The ITIS database is much more updated, and it must be used together with McDiarmid et al. 1999. The EMBL is useful, but it is not complete, and sometimes it does not cite all sources. None of them however, have their results based on phylogenetic analyses... because phylogenetic analyses are not available for most taxa of reptiles. Thus I would suggest that if some is interested in reptile systematics, look for primary sources: recent scientific publications... some places to find them are: HerpLit, Center for North American Herpetology, Nemys Euroherps Best regards! ----DFCisneros 03:54, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

That's sounds good enough for me: the AMNH together with Frost et al. (2006) for amphibians, and ITIS together with McDiarmid et al. (1999) for snakes. As for the rest of the reptiles, I'm not so sure anymore, but if DFCisneros thinks we should use ITIS for this too, then I think we should accept his judgement in this, since it looks like he's the expert here.
Naturally, McDiarmid et al. (1999) is to a certain extent out of date compared to ITIS. There have been many updates to the ITIS database since the publication of that famous checklist (now seven years old). However, all of those updates come from Dr. McDiarmid. As a matter of fact, while many ITIS database entries mention McDiarmid et al. (1999) vol. 1 as their only reference, some mention vol. 2 which has yet to be published.
As for the phylogenetic research regarding reptiles, I'm aware that the positions of many species of snakes are still unresolved. In the mean time, I feel the best solution is indeed to stick to ITIS, but at the same time to mention more recent research in the taxonomy sections of the different articles. --Jwinius 14:46, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Wait for the paper by Donnellan et. al. before we make any changes to Pelodrydinae, as is stated in Frost's paper. --liquidGhoul 14:56, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
Hey, I just do snakes! I'm perfectly happy to let you and DFCisneros worry about Pelodrydinae. :-) --Jwinius 16:33, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Care sheet information

I just noticed a bunch of edits to Burmese Python yesterday that added a whole mess of captive care information to the page, while the information is not entirely incorrect, the simple policy of Wikipedia is that it is not a 'how to guide'. The majority of Corn Snake is the same way and it badly needs a cleanup. I just thought I'd mention it in hopes that the project goals could include pruning of this kind of information and keep articles encyclopedic instead of instructional. -Dawson 16:20, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. The corn snake article needs to be completely rewritten. It looks to me like it was mostly written by a avid corn snake enthusiast; most of the current "Corn Snakes as pets" section can be seen as original research, which is not allowed here. The author also included info that seems to come from a commercial reptile breeder; I'm pretty sure all of the color morphs described were created by captive breeding programs (incl. hybrids!) and have little to do with the species' natural history. Basically, this article needs to be rewritten completely.
The Burmese python article is a little better, but needs references. Again, the sections for Diet, In captivity and Variations seem to be written from the point of view of a keeper. I also dislike the albino pictures: they are freak specimens hardly ever seen in nature. By the way, has anyone noticed that the Burmese python is mentioned nowhere in the Indian python article? The two are somewhat related, you know. --Jwinius 21:52, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recent pertinent activity...

Got dibs (and refs) on Crocodylus cataphractus so don't go messin' with that one  ;-P Dracontes 10:05, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

  • Good work, you are of course welcome to contribute in this way :). I have copyedited Dwarf Crocodile. There are still some problems with it (mostly gramatical and style), but it is a good article. We need a reptile article to be featured as only frog articles are at the moment. I'm hoping you'll dedicate yourself to one of your articles enough to achieve this. There are plenty of people willing to help. Thanks. --liquidGhoul 11:46, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Decline in amphibian populations

Hi Guys,

I think we need to do an informal collaboration of this article. I consider it the most important article that this project can do, along with Amphibian and Reptile. Having it on the main page could hugely increase awareness of what is going on in the world. I am going to try and put some work in it (though I won't be able to get really stuck in until after November 10), but the article needs some contributors from around the world. If I were the only one to work on it, most (if not all) the examples will be about Australian frogs, and we need examples from frogs, salamanders and caecilians from across the world. Also, I am sure there are some issues which are not occuring in Australia. I hope some people can help. Thanks --liquidGhoul 01:30, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 2 lizards

I'm having trouble with 2 lizard pages. Flying dragon (Draco volans genus) on google is referred to "Common Flying Dragon" and "Common Gliding lizard". The problem is there is another new page of a genus "Draco sumatranus" which too is referred to on google as Common Gliding Lizard. Even wierder is before i renamed it to "Common Gliding Lizard" the author of the page named it "Common Flying Dragon". So Im confused as the name that should be given to this 2 different genuses. Please help, thanks. - Tutmosis 14:47, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Also regarding the Flying dragon name should be a disambig since other similar pages exist such as Flying Dragon and Flying Dragons. - Tutmosis 14:51, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
There should certainly be a disambiguous page, but I think they are both currently correct in their article name. There are some variations, but that is common with common names. It would also be useful to have a genus page for Draco, as the taxobox currently bolds the genus, where it should link to it. --liquidGhoul 15:00, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
Personally I think the lizard articles are in bad shape. Can you direct me to any online sources from which I can be certain to get the right information? - Tutmosis 15:03, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
I work on frog articles, and since they are in so much danger from extinction, there is a lot of information becoming available. Unfortunately, it is not as easy for lizards. I agree that the articles are in very bad shape, and the only site I can recommend is ITIS (though I am not recommending from personal experience as I cannot access it!). It should have the taxonomic information neccessary. Good luck! :) Oh, and if you ever want any help finding some specific info or a copyedit of an article, ask here (if its related to the subject of course). --liquidGhoul 15:10, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
Just last month, the ITIS database got moved to a new location in Colorado and now has its own domain name: itis.gov instead of itis.usda.gov (although the latter still works). Perhaps now you'll be able to access it. As far as I can tell, it's now faster than ever. --Jwinius 15:31, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, that works now. --liquidGhoul 07:48, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
This is a good example of how common names often lead to confusion. Reptile species frequently have many different common names, none of which ever have any kind of official status. To avoid this kind of mess, I suggest doing things a little differently. Example: gaboon viper. I agree with Tutmosis that common names -- especially when they are used for multiple species -- should be used for disambiguation pages instead. Example: rock viper. --Jwinius 15:21, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
Definetely. Also doing some research on ITIS and other sites there alot of conficting names about family of species etc. I do not wish to edit anything since I do not want to screw anything up. I just brought this up here since this is what you guys do and wanted to bring the issue to light especially concerning those 2 lizard articles I happened to run into. - Tutmosis 15:39, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
Heres an example: Agamidae articles states that its suborder is Sauria. On ITIS, if you search for "Agamidae" the suborder is "Iguania". At first I thought "Iguania" is a different name for "Sauria" but apprently not considering it has its own article "Iguania". - Tutmosis 15:44, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
The Common names vs Scientific names debate flares up every once in a while on the Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tree of Life and Wikipedia talk:Village pump (policy) pages, but sadly the official policy is still to use common names over scientific names. I'm hoping some day this will change, but that really depends on us. Personally, I like to keep this page and the aforementioned ones are on my watch list and will keep bringing this subject up, or supporting others who do so, in order to raise awareness. In the mean time, I'm encouraged by the fact that Bitis gabonica and Bitis arietans were recently granted GA status, despite being different.
As for the taxonomy issue, I started out following the EMBL for all viperid articles, but switched when I realized there were too many problems with it. I now follow the more conservative, but far more authoritative ITIS site instead, together with a a copy of Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1, by McDiarmid et al. (1999). A similar checklist together with ITIS may be best for lizards, but we've heard from one herpetologist that many prefer the AMNH for amphibians. --Jwinius 17:24, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nyctiphruretus

Can you people pretty please proof read this article and change what is needed. If so leave comments would be great too. Toodaloo. Enlil Ninlil 06:37, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

I've done a copyedit and left some comments. --liquidGhoul 07:55, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Amphibian Tree of Life

While searching for information on Eleutherodactylus I stumbled upon this 371 page work on amphibian taxonomy. [6] I would like some comments and discussion on this work. Should we adopt their classification schemes? Joelito (talk) 13:53, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

It is currently being worked in, but it is slow progress, as it is basically only Isfisk, and he also works on German (?) Wikipedia. See Opisthodon for an example. If you want to adopt a particular taxonomy, make sure they are confident of the change. They merged all the Australian tree frogs into one genus, but were uncomfortable with it. I think it was because their testing on Australia Hylids were limited, and there is obvious distinctions between them. It also says that a paper in progress will address the problem (which has been around for a long time). I would be happy with including most changes. --liquidGhoul 14:02, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Project directory

Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 23:41, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sample article for reptiles

I'm looking for a sample article for reptiles, but all of the samples seem to be on amphibians. bibliomaniac15 Review? 00:54, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Yep, we have yet to have someone stick to a reptile article enough to feature it. We tried with New Caledonian Crested Gecko, but ran out of sources. What article are you working on? Thanks --liquidGhoul 04:12, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm starting to work on Komodo dragon, since it's a commonly known creature and would have a wealth of sources. bibliomaniac15 Review? 04:20, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

The article is on the right track. Change the "population" header to "Conservation status" and merge Recent develoments with ecology and behaviour, and remove all references to the current time (like recent). I haven't fully gone through the article, but post here when you're ready, and a couple of us will be able to do a copyedit. Thanks --liquidGhoul 04:54, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

A couple of the viper articles I've worked on have Good Article status: Bitis arietans and Bitis gabonica. A few others that are also pretty complete are Daboia and Vipera berus. In my view Komodo dragon may look nice, but it doesn't cite any references (which is different from just listing a few). I sure do wish editors would do more than just pay lip service to this issue. As for what a "Conservation status" section should look like, I think Vipera albizona includes a good example (if not I wouldn't mind hearing some comments). --Jwinius 18:55, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Why does the article use the scientific name as the main article? Couldn't you use "Puff adder" and "Gaboon viper" respectively? bibliomaniac15 Review? 00:23, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Because it makes more sense to do it that way. Here are some reasons (in no particular order):

  • Articles names at Wikipedia have to be unique anyway, so why not use the only ones that are always unambiguous?
  • It avoids conflicts; do you have any idea how many different black snakes, green snakes, diamondbacks, sand vipers, lanceheads, adders and asps there are? If you use common names for article tiles, then one gets the "good" name and the others have to be, um, different. Why is that such a good solution? Presentation?
  • Why should we have to make a choice when two or more common names can apply -- just because one shows up more often in Google? That is arbitrary and unscientific.
  • Selecting one common name for a species over all the others gives people the impression that it's more importance of more official than the others, even though that's the case. An exception might be the AOU where they've tried to make certain common names for birds "official", but that's only for American species and even Wikipedia aren't following their lead.
  • Using scientific names avoids petty conflicts between editors: no more fights about Siberian Tiger vs. Amur Tiger or Puma vs. Cougar.
  • Common name tiles make category overviews pretty useless: just compare Category:True vipers with Category:Sharks and you'll see what I mean.
  • Using scientific names for article titles can teach readers more about how organisms are related: "These names are weird, but look how the first names are all the same... maybe they're all related!"
  • Using scientific names for article titles can also help editors to be more aware of how species are related: notice how Burmese Python is mentioned nowhere in Indian Python even though the former is a subspecies of the latter? That's bound to happen more often when scientific names and taxonomy are treated as an afterthought.
  • Scientific names are universal while common names are not; people in one (English speaking) country may not be familiar with the common names in another.
  • Using scientific names for article titles promotes better continuity when linking with other articles inside and outside of Wikipedia.
  • When common names are used for article titles, people tend to spend a less time wondering whether the corresponding scientific name is correct or not and often don't even bother making a redirect for it.

Finally, someone complained to me once that using scientific names for article titles makes it confusing for people when they click on a link like "puff adder" only to end up on a page titled "Bitis areitans". Perhaps, but the same can be said for people who click on "Siberian tiger". Also, I figure that my solution of listing a few of the most common names clearly at the top of the article fixes that (plus it simplifies the introduction). --Jwinius 04:37, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wildlife Barnstar

There is currently a barnstar proposal at Wikipedia:Barnstar and award proposals/New Proposals#Wildlife Barnstar for a barnstar which would be available for use for this project. Please feel free to visit the page and make any comments you see fit. Badbilltucker 15:24, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Veterinary medicine project

There is now a proposed project at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Veterinary Medicine to deal with matters of veterinary medicine, a subject which currently has disproportionately low content in wikipedia. Any wikipedia editors who have an interest in working on content related to the subject are encouraged to indicate as much there. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 22:07, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

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