Wikipedia:WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Title

WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles

[edit] Scope

This WikiProject aims to expand organise Wikipedia's collection of entries about Amphibians and Reptiles, both living and extinct.

[edit] Parentage

This WikiProject is an offshoot of WikiProject Tree of Life

WikiProject Science.

WikiProject Biology

WikiProject Tree of Life

WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles

[edit] Descendant Wikiprojects

WikiProject Dinosaurs

[edit] Related Wikiprojects

It is worth keeping one eye on several Wikiprojects that overlap with this one or that have made significant progress towards completion, including WikiProject Birds, WikiProject Ecoregions, WikiProject Conservation worldwide and WikiProject Marine life.

[edit] Participants

[edit] Structure

Amphibian and reptile articles can be on any level that makes sense in context. Most will be about particular taxa. For example:

Class: Amphibian, Reptile
Order: Frog, Squamata
Family: Ichthyophiidae, Chameleon
Genus: Litoria, Geochelone
Species: Great Barred Frog, Nile crocodile

In many cases, it makes sense to combine several taxonomic levels in a single article. For example, the family Rheobatrachidae contains only one genus, Rheobatrachus. All Rheobatrachids are gastric-brooding frogs, so the one article covers both levels.

Conversely, sometimes it is better to cover only a part of a taxon: Corroboree frog deals with two different (but related) species and ignores the other species in the genus Pseudophryne.

Some of the larger taxons, such as frogs, need to be broken down into smaller articles to reduce article size. For example, with frog, the biology related sections are left in the article, and the popular culture section and list of families within that order are split into the Frogs in popular culture and List of Anuran families articles. A paragraph with a link to the seperate article should be left within the main article (e.g. Frog#Frogs in popular culture and Frog#Taxonomy).

It may be useful to start with a high-level article, such as a family article, and then split off genus and/or species articles as the material builds.

Create links to articles on the levels immediately higher and lower. An article on a family such as tree frogs should link back to frogs, and down to the genus articles.

[edit] Criteria for inclusion

At what level is it worth having a separate Wikipedia article for a particular amphibian or reptile? Any level you like! If we write individual articles for all the species, we will be at it for a long time! The simplest (and probably best) rule is to have no rule: if you have the time and energy to write up some particularly obscure subspecies that most people have never even heard of, go to it!

As a general guideline though, combine several species or subspecies into a single article when there isn't enough text to make more than short, unsatisfying stubs otherwise. If the article grows large enough to deserve splitting, that can always be done later.

[edit] Names and titles

See WikiProject Tree of Life#Article titles and common names

[edit] Article contents

The following items are desirable for articles of all levels, although the detail will vary depending on several factors. These items do not need to be separated into distinct sections; text should flow in continuous prose so far as possible. The order this information is included is also relatively unimportant, although the order listed is generally preferred.

Description (physical, behavioral) - what makes this (group of) critter(s) different from its close relatives?
Habitat - where does it live? how broadly does it roam? maps are good
Cultural, Religious, Economic, etc. importance - what impact has it had on humans? Include here use for experimental purposes that do not relate to other headings.
Classification - how does it fit into the tree of life?

[edit] Task list and progress

Create article for each Order and Family
Ensure all Family articles are taxonomically consistent
1. Ensure all articles between Order and Family rank are taxonomically consistent
Create article for each Genus
1. Ensure all articles between Family and Genus rank are taxonomically consistent
Create articles for all Species
1. Create links for all species articles on appropriate articles
2. Create lists of uncreated articles to add to category pages:
Create articles for aspects of amphibian and reptile biology, such as snake scales and vocal sac.

[edit] Phylogenetic and Paleontological references

Phylogeny and taxonomy of some fossil groups is not known or is uncertain; relationships of living species to each other and fossil species is also not fully known. Join the discussion for other possibilities.

The following is suggested as primary references (feel free to add more!)

[edit] Print - Primary References

Benton, M. J. (2004), Vertebrate Paleontology, 3rd ed. Blackwell Science Ltd, or 2nd ed. 2000. This is a widely used and respected work, which has superceded but not replaced Carroll 1988. The classification presented in this book, although not perfect, is a good compromise that combines the Linnean and Cladistic approaches. For more on this book see Vertebrate Paleontology
Carroll, R. L. (1988), Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, WH Freeman & Co. At the back of this book is a very useful appendix that lists every veretebrate genus classified according to family, order, etc. This is the most recent Linnean classification of living and extinct vertebrates, and Dr Carroll's book is in any case and excellent textbook, although too detailed and technical for trhe beginner
Handbook of Paleoherpetology, a multi-authored series of important volumes, each on a particular group. Some are rather dated, others are more current. The main page is here. For a classification, click on the title/group you are interested in, that brings up some info about that volume with a picture of the cover. There will generally be a little button on the lower part of the page which says "more". Click on that for the table of contents. The table of contents includes the taxonomy of the group in question.
Ruta, M, MI Coates & DLJ Quicke (2003), Early tetrapod relationships revisited. Biol. Rev. 78: 251-345. pdf - includes a number of cladograms on early Tetrapods
Rubidge, B.S. & Sidor, C.A. 2001, Evolutionary patterns among Permo-Triassic therapsids. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 32: 449-480. pdf - includes large Therapsid cladogram and very good overview of Therapsid clades
any articles or papers in peer-reviewed journals

[edit] Online - Primary References

Tree of Life describes the early amniote clades; follow the links back to tetrapods, or forward to more recent or derived groups. The Tree of Life project is peer-reviewed and so can be considered authoritative. Note that this phylogeny differs in places from Benton's.
any online (html or pdf) articles or papers that have also appeared in peer-reviewed print journals

[edit] Print - Secondary References

The following books can also be used, but they are not as detailed or authoritative as the Primary references textbooks. Note: these books are not peer-reviewed, so they can only be used as basic introductory material

Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas H. Rich, The Great Russian Dinosaurs, Gunter Graphics, 1993, Pg 37.
Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric Creatures Edited by ingrid Cranfield 2000 Salamander books ltd
Barry Cox, R.J.G.Savage, Brian Gardiner, Dougal Dixon, 1988 Illustrated Collins/McMillian/whatever Encyclopaedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals (this book has been variously published so the name of the title may differ - a higherly recommended for a basic intro, although there are still a few mistakes - e.g. still presents Teratosaurus as a dinosaur!))

[edit] Internet - Secondary References

Palaeos - includes detailed technical information on many tetrapod groups, also some overviews, and lists references
Terrestrial Vertebrate Groups - Mikko's Phylogeny - a giant cladogram made up of thousands of linked webpages. Includes references, but does not specify which parts of the cladogram on each page were based on which references
UCMP Berkely - description on different groups of prehistoric organisms - gives a good basic intro, but does not cover sub-groups in detail

[edit] Use a taxobox

New Caledonian Crested Gecko

Crested Gecko, Rhacodactylus ciliatus

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Sauria
Family:	Gekkonidae
Genus:	Rhacodactylus
Species:	R. ciliatus

Binomial name

Rhacodactylus ciliatus
Guichenot, 1866

In general, amphibian and reptile entries should have a taxobox, a feature we inherited from the Tree of Life WikiProject. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/taxobox usage for guidelines on how to use a taxobox.

[edit] Photographs

Please use and help maintain collections of photographs such as:

Category:Frog images

[edit] Project templates and categories

Place {{AARTalk}} at the top of an article's talk page. This will help direct editors to this page for guidance.

[edit] Stubs

{{amphibian-stub}}
{{reptile-stub}}

{{lizard-stub}}
{{snake-stub}}

[edit] Categories

Do not categorise in more than one level of taxa. For example, do not categorise an article in both Category:Frogs and Category:Litoria. Only categorise in the lowest taxa with a category, in this case Category:Litoria.

[edit] Family list templates

{{Anura}}. Placing this template on a page creates a box with list of names of anuran families. This template has been used in Frog and the wikipages on anuran families.
{{Snake families}}. Placing this template on a page creates a box with list of names of snake families. This template is meant for been use in Snake and the wikipages on snake families.

[edit] Sample Articles/Lists

Some article under this Wikiproject have been recognised for their excellence by the Wikipedia community as featured articles, and may serve as good models.

Articles:

Lists

Other articles are listed as good articles, and may need some more work to reach featured status:

Some articles specially created under auspices of the WikiProject are -

[edit] Awards

Image	Name	Description
	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
	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 .

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../w/i/k/Wikipedia%7EWikiProject_Amphibians_and_Reptiles_238c.html"

Categories: WikiProject Tree of Life | WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles