Talk:Titanoboa/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: SilverTiger12 (talk · contribs) 22:53, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

I'll go ahead and review this article, though it might take me a day or two to get entirely through it. I will also make small changes as I go.

Lede first:
 * during the middle and late intervals of the Paleocene. Wouldn't it be clearer to just say "during the middle and late Paleocene."?
 * Titanoboa was first discovered in the 2000s by students from the University of Florida and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, recovering over 186 fossils of Titanoboa from the site. The phrasing here is a little clunky: what site? Why "over" such an odd number? And perhaps change to "who recovered over 180 fossils of Titanoboa from.."
 * It was not named until 2009 in the journal Nature, being dubbed Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever found. As an aside, the phrasing "it was not [x] until...." tends to imply that there was a significant delay in getting things done. Given the effort involved, I don't think fossils found in the 2000s being described in 2009 as being a significant delay. And I'm not sure why it is so important what journal it was named in. Perhaps rephrase "It was named and described in 2009 as Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever found."
 * All suggestions implemented

History and naming:
 * In 2002, during an expedition to the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira that had been launched by the University of Florida and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the large thoracic vertebrae and ribs of snakes were unearthed by the students Jonathon Bloch and Carlos Jamarillo of the two institutions. => "In 2002, during an expedition to the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira launched by the University of Florida and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, large thoracic vertebrae and ribs were unearthed by the students Jonathon Bloch and Carlos Jamarillo."
 * The expedition lasted till 2004, in which the fossils of Titanoboa were mistakenly labeled as those of crocodiles. "during which" if they were mislabeled during the expedition, "after which" if they were mislabeled afterwards.
 * Cerrejón is in the Cerrejón Formation, dating to the mid-late Paleocene epoch (around 60-58 mya), a period just after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. While this is relevant to the article, its place in this section breaks up the flow of the story, so to speak, of Titanoboa's discovery.
 * More fossils were unearthed during the year, eventually amassing to a total of 30 individuals and 186 fossils in total, which were found in association with other giant reptile fossils of turtles and crocodilians. During what year? The expedition seems to have lasted at least 2 years. And please rephrase to "eventually totaling 186 fossils from 30 individuals".
 * A suggestion: move the sentence about the expedition lasting until 2004 to after "Before this discovery, few fossils of Paleocene-epoch vertebrates had been found in ancient tropical environments of South America."
 * A later expedition to Cerrejón was conducted in 2011, finding a new array of fossils from Titanoboa. "Another expedition to Cerrejon launched in 2011 found more fossils from Titanoboa."

Description:
 * Much of the fossils of Titanoboa are incomplete or undescribed, consisting primarily of thoracic vertebrae that were located before the cloaca. Many of most, not much.
 * The vertebrae, however, are distinct, being very robust and a uniquely T-shaped neural spine that has an expanded posterior margin and a thin, blade-like anterior process. It also has much smaller foramina (small pits in bone) on its center and lateral sides, contrary to those of many other boids. It possesses the same characteristics as other boids and especially Boa, such as a short, posteriorly-pointing prezygapophyseal process on the vertebrae. => This needs rephrasing. I can get what you are saying, but it could be better. Maybe move the last sentence to be the second sentence.
 * According to it, Titanoboa is unique in the high amount of palatal and marginal tooth positions compared to others boids, the quadrate bone is oriented at a low angle and the articulation of both the palatine to pterygoid and pterygoid to quadrate are heavily reduced. Unique again? Everything's unique. "Titanoboa has a high amount of palatal and marginal tooth positions compared to other boids. The quadrate bone is oriented at a low angle and the articulation...[is this similar to, same as, or very different from other boids?]"

Classification:
 * Specifically, the 2013 abstract recovered the giant snake being closely connected to taxa from the Pacific Islands and Madagascar, linking Old World and New World boids and suggesting that the two lineages must have diverged by the Paleocene at the latest. => "The 2013 abstract recovered Titanoboa as closely related to taxa from the Pacifics Islands and Madagascar, linking the Old World and New World boids and suggesting that the two lineages diverged by the Paleocene at the latest."
 * Is that cladogram from the 2013 abstract or the 2015 study? I assume the 2015 study, but please specify.

Paleobiology:
 * Due to the warm and humid greenhouse climate of the Paleocene, the region of what is now Cerrejón was covered by wet tropical rainforests that covered coastal plains that housed large river systems, which were inhabited by various freshwater animals, especially reptiles. "the region of what is now Cerrejon was a coastal plain covered by wet tropical forests with large river systems,". Also, why "especially reptiles"?
 * Among the native reptiles are three different types of dyrosaurs, crocodylomorphs that survived the KPG extinction event independently from modern crocodilians. The genera that coexisted alongside Titanoboa included the large, slender-snouted Acherontisuchus, the medium sized but broad-headed Anthracosuchus and the relatively small Cerrejonisuchus, which may have been relatively more terrestrial than its relatives. This could use some concision: "Among the native reptiles are three different genera of dyrosaurs,....: the large, slender-snouted Acherontisuchus, the medium-sized but broad-headed Anthracosuchus, and the relatively small Cerrejonisuchus, which..." And does ref 19 cover that statement about Cerrejonisuchus being more terrestrial? Because right now it looks like an unreferenced statement.
 * Turtles also thrived in the tropical wetlands of Paleocene Colombia, giving rise to several species of considerable size such as Cerrejonemys and Carbonemys, two genera of Podocnemididae, and Puentemys, a bothremydid. "such as Cerrejonemys, Carbonemys, and Puentemys." Turtle families don't really provide helpful context unless you know about turtles, so mentioning them is just extra jargon here.
 * The rainforests of the Cerrejón Formation mirror modern tropical forests in regards to the families that make up much of the vegetation, however unlike today, these Paleocene forests were relatively low in diversity. Although it is possible that this low diversity is the result of the wetland nature of the depositional environment, samples from other localities corresponding with this time frame suggest that the forests that arose shortly following the Cretaceous Paleogene mass extinction were of similar composition. This would indicate that the low plant diversity of the time may be a direct result of the mass extinction preceding it. This whole chunk needs rephrasing. "The rainforests of the Cerrejon Formation mirror modern tropical forests in regards to which families make up most of the vegetation. But unlike modern tropical forests, these Paleocene forests had fewer species. Although it is possible that this low diversity was a result of the wetland nature of the depositional environment, samples from other localities in the same time frame suggest that all of the forests that arose shortly following the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinct were of similar composition [composition, as in same taxa, or of similarly low diversity?]. This indicates that the low plant diversity of the time was a direct result of the mass extinction preceding it."
 * Plants found in these Paleocene forests include Zingiberales, Salvinia[25] and Araceae[26] among others. => "Plants found in these Paleocene forests include the floating fern Salvinia and various genera of Zingiberales and Araceae.[25][26]" As applicable, I'm assuming there were multiple genera from the family and order listed.
 * These adaptations bear resemblance to modern caenophidian snakes with a piscivorous diet and is unique among boids. Clunky, needs rephrasing. "These adaptations are not seen in other boids, but closely resemble those in modern caeonphidian snakes with a piscivorous diet."
 * I'm not entirely sure the whole blow-by-blow of the climate implications debate is needed; the subsection is very dense and wordy.

That's all for now, I might do another pass after these are dealt with. --SilverTiger12 (talk) 18:24, 3 August 2023 (UTC)


 * suggestions except for the last are now in. AFH (talk) 21:15, 3 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I was thinking it over and there really doesn't seem to be a better way to summarize it. Also, I still found the sentence order of paragraph one a bit clunky, so I changed the position and phrasing of More fossils were unearthed in 2004, eventually totaling 186 fossils from 30 individuals. If this change introduced inaccuracies, feel free to revert. Either way, I am promoting this to Good Article. Happy editing, SilverTiger12 (talk) 20:03, 4 August 2023 (UTC)

1. Well-written:
 * GA Criteria:
 * a.Clear & Concise: working
 * b. MOS-compliant: yes

2. Verifiable: everything's cited, all the citations are good, Earwig doesn't pick up any copyvio. So yes.

3. Broad in coverage: yes

4. Neutral: yes

5. Stable: yes

6. Illustrations: yes