Talk:Chororapithecus/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: IJReid (talk · contribs) 16:29, 20 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I might as well uphold my tradition of a review for every nomination, in which case I'll take this one on. On first read the article seems a little shy on some information, but I'm not surprised given the probable lack of papers on a taxon known from a few teeth. I'll continue adding more as I go along. IJReid ^{{{T - C - D - R}}} 16:29, 20 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Taxonomy:

Either some linking to the locations (Chorora Village, Beticha) or some rough approximations of the location (eg. southern Ethiopia) would be appreciated, otherwise the only location information easily identified is the country.
Explanation of what CHO-BT stands for would be good
Some information on the discoverers would be good, Name, nationality, profession
Stating they are derived after that they have unique specializations is unnecessary
There is some conflict between the lead and the taxonomy here. The lead says Chororap. is the only fossils of a great ape lineage, but taxonomy says it is the only Miocene fossil, but also that Nakalip. is as well.
The first sentence of age discussion seems a bit choppy, perhaps split between the original and later interpretation like "... and the discoverers then concluded that the gorilla–human last common ancestor (LCA) existed about 12 mya.[1] The [teeth/deposit] was subsequently re-dated to about 8 mya by [authors], which, if Chororapithecus is indeed a stem gorilla ..."
A little mixing of tenses, all but the final sentence of the age paragraph should be past-tense
A bit more discussion of the phylogenetic results could add to the article, why Chorora is where it is etc.
It is mentioned that is might not be a gorillin, but where would it be if it wasn't?
This paper discusses hominin evolution, and puts forward how previous studies require Chororapithecus to be a hominin to match their proposed MRCA
It is also suggested that Chororapithecus having lateral cusps is the primitive feature for Homininae and also suggests the genus is a stem-hominine instead of a gorillin

Anatomy:

The "molars range in size" should specify that it is adult gorilla size, and also replace "from" with "between"
I would also reword so it is "between the smallest and largest of what is seen in adult gorillas", optional
"increasing" -> "increase"
Discussion on why a wide base is important would be nice
A bit more discussion of why the latter features are important, or comparisons to other animals teeth would add some relevance to the section
An image of either the teeth of Chororap. or a gorilla would be nice for illustrating the listed features

Paleobiology:

An image of a comparable environment would be nice
What plants are harder and more brittle?
A little more info about the area and duration of the formation would be nice, and probably more accurately represent the uncertainty of ages
Looking in Suwa ea 2015, it includes all the ecological information you could need, more about specific fauna from the same locality, from elsewhere in the formation, relative ages, habitat types, and "first sub-saharan mammals from 7-9ma"

Other and Lead:

The See Also might be better as a list with more columns
The total number of teeth is never mentioned in the article, should be added
(and the only other) should be removed, and an entire sentence should be added detailing the possible relationships
If information on the describers is available, etymology and some more background could be added to the lead, and the taxonomic aspects could be split into their own paragraph