Talk:Mecodema howittii

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Mecodema howittii/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: AxonsArachnida (talk · contribs) 02:47, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: Jens Lallensack (talk · contribs) 18:29, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

• This species occur in podocarp and hardwood forest remnants, and grassland—even in heavily-modified habitat such as pasture. – Should the second part of the sentence be past tense? Otherwise it does not really connect to the first sentence part.
  • I must be having an off day. I don't quite see how the second part of the sentence is in past tense.
    • My bad, I quoted the wrong sentence. This one I meant: Although once very common in high ridges where forest had been cleared and logs left to lie in pasture, it disappears once these logs rot away or are burned. The sentence implies that "these logs" existed "once", so the entire sentence should be past tense to make sense.
      • That makes more sense. I've made the rest of the sentence past tense.
• crabids and carabids, is that the same group?
  • Spelling error. I've fixed it.
• observed preying on the larvae of Holcaspis suteri – introduce the name (what general group is this species of)?
  • Reworded to "the larvae of the carabid Holcaspis suteri"
• M. howittii's native predators are presumed to include the morepork, large species of spiders, and weka – again, it would help to at least know that morepork and weka are birds.
  • Reworded to make clearer that morepork and weka are birds.
• Some terms need explanation per WP:MTAU, especially in the Description section and in the sentence about the mites. I also suggest to replace "endemic" with "native" in the lead, as the lead should be particularly accessible.
  • I've added some explanations of the more technical terms. Also, endemic should not be replaced with native. The terms have two different meanings. Endemic means it is only found here whereas native just means it naturally occurs here (which may imply that it can be found elsewhere).
    • In this context, the meaning should be clear though: Mecodema howittii is a species of ground beetle in the genus Mecodema that occurs in New Zealand already implies that it only occurs in New Zealand as no other place is mentioned. A reader won't assume that it occurs elsewhere. Alternatively, you could also say "is restricted to" for extra clarity, but since the next sentence starts with "it is only known from", there should be no need. I personally would write, in the second sentence, "It is endemic (restricted) to Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region", so you keep the term in the lead. But per MTAU, we should not rely on wikilinks in the lead and especially the first sentence whenever possible. On a related note, I would remove "in the genus Mecodema" from the first sentence: That's of secondary importance for the general reader, while somebody with biological background already assumes it is in Mecodema based on the binomen. I see that while MTAU is part of the GA criteria, these specific points are minor, and I won't push this further if you still disagree.
      • I've changed the lead to "occurs in New Zealand" and "It is only found in Banks Peninsula...". Also removed the Mecodema mention. Good suggestions, thanks.
• It is possible this range contraction is due to extensive nineteenth-century deforestation of the peninsula and predation by introduced mammals such as rats and mice. – sentence is unsourced.
  • Shifted citation.
• Article could still be expanded; I am looking at the Anderson 2003 paper that has more relevant facts, such as factors contributing to the decline (e.g., poor dispersal ability, vulnerability to forest fires, livestock grazing) and the association with ground-level vegetation density. I think that these are details that a general reader might want to know, but I acknowledge that all critical points seem to be covered.
  • I've gone and added this detail.
• While checking sources, I got some context on the genus in general which, I think, would greatly help the readers. Most importantly, it is important to mention that the genus is flightless, and some details about burrowing activity (permanent burrows, it seems) would be really helpful, so that a reader can imagine how this animal lives.
  • I've added mentions that they are flightless and live in burrows. There really isn't much information on burrowing in M. howittii or in Mecodema as a whole. It would actually be a great thing to study someday, I'm curious if the females ever leave their burrows.
    • Do females differ in some way? I assumed that males and females are identical, because no male/female is specified in the "Description"? --Jens Lallensack (talk) 06:24, 25 August 2025 (UTC)
      • It's not stated in published literature anywhere (although in reality there's probably some small differences). Older taxonomic descriptions often don't bother unless there is an obvious difference.
• I briefly read through two of the cited papers, and everything I read in the article is there, no text-source integrity issues apparent. --Jens Lallensack (talk) 18:29, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

  @Jens Lallensack I've made some changes and have replies to your comments. AxonsArachnida (talk) 03:14, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

  Thanks, see some replies above! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 06:24, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

  @Jens Lallensack I've made some more replies. AxonsArachnida (talk) 07:08, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

  Thanks, looking good; promoting now, congrats! --Jens Lallensack (talk) 07:36, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Did you know nomination

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. You can locate your hook here. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Dclemens1971 talk 15:00, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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Mecodema howittii burrowing into the ground.

• ... that the ground beetle Mecodema howittii (pictured) is in decline and only known to be found on Banks Peninsula in New Zealand?

• Source: In decline: https://nztcs.org.nz/assessments/16161

Only known from Banks Peninsula: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00779962.2003.9722107

• • Reviewed:

Improved to Good Article status by AxonsArachnida (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

AxonsArachnida (talk) 08:03, 25 August 2025 (UTC).

• starting review--Kevmin § 15:04, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

• Article GA new enough and long enough. Article well cited and neutrally written. Hook is cited and verified to sources. AxonsArachnida I have a few wording qubbles. The article several times uses the phrase "found in Banks Peninsula" I might suggest changing "in" to "across". To me "in" implies subsurface like caves or burrowing deep, across implies surface. The second quibble is to note that the elytra do not "make the upper surface of the abdomen", they only cover it in rest.--Kevmin § 15:40, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
  • Kevmin I've updated the article with your comments. AxonsArachnida (talk) 20:11, 27 August 2025 (UTC)
    • Article GA new enough and long enough. Article well cited and neutrally written. Hook is cited and verified to sources. Wording is addressed and article prose flows well. No copyvio or close paraphrasing identified in checks. image is good quality and main page compatible. Good to go--Kevmin § 13:33, 31 August 2025 (UTC)