Talk:Ocoee salamander

Wiki Education assignment: Behavioral Ecology 2022
— Assignment last updated by Froggo1324 (talk) 19:58, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

Peer Review
Overall, I think this page looks great! I added some links to other pages that I think will be useful. I also moved some of the information from your short description because I did not think It was necessary to put there. I made some minor grammatical and spelling changes as well. User:Sophieeichler — Preceding undated comment added 21:18, 21 October 2022 (UTC)


 * This article was really strong and only required minor changes to words when there was an incorrect plural or missing letter. I was intrigued by the response of the ocoee salamander to different predators, so I did some research and added the following Predators section on Oct 20. The article had only had one sentence on it before, and felt like one of the very few sections which needed more:
 * It is preyed upon by birds, snakes, and even another species of salamander. The ocoee salamander has developed many different anti-predator defenses to use in different situations. When approached by a predator it may remain immobile, but is more likely to flee when it encounters the Spring salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus). The salamanders are also prone to autotomizing the tail to avoid an attack. When attacked by a snake, ocoee salamanders writhe about and try to bite the snake on the head. Luiscville (talk) 20:44, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

Major changes
I wrote a 1500-word addition to the page, covering topics like phylogeny, habitat, mating, and parental care. I also removed a little section on mating because it was repetitive. The 2 photos I added were specifically photographed and uploaded by Todd Pierson, whom I emailed and kindly requested that he upload the photos on Wikipedia Commons for use.

Eylul.horozoglu (talk) 19:58, 13 October 2022 (UTC)

Peer review
I added more summary in the leading section to make sure it covers every section discussed in the following content. I also moved a sentence in the habitat section into the diet section because it’s about diet. I also rephrased some sentences to make them more concise.

Sentences I added:

There are five distinct species in the genus Desmognathus, but reproduction barrier is rare. This salamander has a variety of colors and patterns and got its name from Tennessee state wildflower. Its diet mainly includes small invertebrates. The mating behavior include pheromonal communication and courting. After oviposition, this salamander guards its eggs for about three months.

Sentence I rephrased and moved:

Potential food source includes flies, ants, wasps, beetles, spiders, mites, and a whole variety of other organisms.

They dependence on water for reproduction, but their short larval period allows them to take advantage of wetted habitats such as small streams and wet rock faces. Yunfeng Ge (talk) 03:21, 18 October 2022 (UTC) Yunfeng Ge (talk) 01:57, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

Updates to Diet section and clarity/sentence structure
The diet section was expanded to include studies about D. ocoee 's preferred feeding territories and the impact of stress on feeding behavior in males and females. Several changes were made in the "Description" section to improve sentence clarity. Frogboi123 (talk) 04:35, 21 October 2022 (UTC)

capitalization of "Ocoee"
The article prose indicates that the salamander is called "ocoee" based on a common noun in Cherokee. If the designation came from the Ocoee River then it should be capitalized here, but since it does not then it appears MOS:COMMONNAMES would govern. ~TPW 14:11, 27 October 2022 (UTC)