Talk:Xylocopa sulcatipes

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mohp7. Peer reviewers: PhonoxClassic, Kew8888.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 05:13, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

General Comments: Wikiproject Behavioral Ecology
This article is beautifully written and extremely informative. I have listed below some changes that may assist in the flow of information as well as details that may be included in order to improve the article. I have also noted some details that I have already changed, which may be changed back if seen as not beneficial.

The overview contains the term “multivoltine” which may be a confusing term to those unfamiliar with it. It is better to hyperlink this term or define it in context. Thus, I have hyperlinked this term to another Wikipedia page titled voltinism. Furthermore, the overview lacks an interesting fact that may draw the reader in. I suggest to add an interesting fact to the overview that would better capture the audience.

For the Description section, some grammatical corrections were added within the sentence “They can also be distinguished by their mandible tridenate[,] which is at the apex, their mesocutellum that [does not] project over the metanotum, and their apical margin, which is rounded in profile.” Furthermore, terms such as integument, apex, metanotum, apical, pygidial, mesosoma, and tergum was hyperlinked for clarification of the large terms. Otherwise, the Distribution and habitat section was very detailed in its description of nesting. The addition of a map to clarify the locations of the bee would prove helpful.

In the Colony Cycle section, to avoid excessive words, “some of the duties” was changed to “some duties.” Furthermore, a paragraph was added before “In other nests” to allow a better transition of information.

For the Ontogeneis section, the term “instar” was hyperlinked. Furthermore, the sentence “the small larva feed on the bee-bread without changing positions” was changed to “the small larva feed on the bee-bred while remaining in the same position.” It seems unnecessary to have a negative term in such a neutral statement. “The second molt… and [the] exhaustion of the bee-bread supply” was altered by deleting the term ‘the’ for sentence structure purposes. “While in the nest, [they]” was altered to “the bees” for clarification of what they was referring to.

In the Kin Selection section, it is stated that “unrelated guards don’t receive much genetic gain.” Yet, there is no offered explanation for the helping behavior. It would be beneficial to state why these unrelated bees would still help other bees. If there is no current offered explanation, it would also be best to state that “there is currently no explanation of why this occurs” because it may cause confusion in understanding the purpose of helping.

In Dirunal and Seasonal Activity, however was deleted in the second sentence for better flow of information. Perhaps it may also be helpful to switch the first and second paragraph. This is because an explanation of why there are minimal activities in the winter months (details) should precede the statement of minimal activities.

For the Territorial Behavior section, “Other territorial behaviors… where each male defending a small section of the air” was changed to “where each male defends a small section of the area around the tree” for clarification. Also, the sentence “For example… males may sue the strategy of defending their own flower or flowers” was changed to “males may defend their own flower or flowers as a strategy” for better sentence structure and flow.

In the Defense section, the term conspecific was hyperlinked for clarification of the term for those who are unfamiliar with it. This section is also very short in comparison to some other sections. To expand on this, perhaps specific species that the nest guarding occurs against should be listed and expanded upon. Further, the predator section may be placed under this title or the Defense section may be placed under the predator title for greater organization of the article.

I don't think this page should be deleted. I'm adding information as we speak.

Contested deletion
This article should not be speedy deleted as having no substantive content, because... The author is adding. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohp7 (talk • contribs) 22:34, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

Peer Review from a Dude
Throughout the article, X. sulcatipes switches between the plural and singular, sometimes in the same section. This can bee seen in Distribution and habitat. In accordance with Wikipedia standards, the scientific species should be treated as the singular and only the singular. Using both, one sentence after another, may confuse readers.

I deleted your clause describing "mesosoma" under Description and identification, opting instead for a hyperlink to the Wikipedia page itself. I also changed the order of the following sentence for parallelism ( scientific term, description then scientific term, description  rather than st, desc then desc, st.).

Under Description and identification, I also replaced every "their" with "the". When writing about a species as a whole, the is the appropriate pronoun. This standard should be applied throughout the article, including the introduction. Replacement with the scientific name is also acceptable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by PhonoxClassic (talk • contribs) 04:42, 2 October 2015 (UTC)

PhonoxClassic (talk) 18:08, 1 October 2015 (UTC)

Critique for Behavioral Ecology
To begin with, this article is interesting, covers some critical behavioral components, and is well referenced. Mostly, it is well worded and easy to follow I would be cautious, however, in the way some of the sections are written. For description and identification, I reworded the section to more closely reflect a layman's understanding of the bee body, and changed the sentence structures as well to achieve this same purpose. I also added hyperlinks to technical terms, and changed the structure to reflect the sexual dimorphism of this bee species.

I think this article might benefit from some analysis of kin-recognition methods. A quick review reveals that there is literature out there about this subject. Narayanan anagha (talk) 04:52, 2 October 2015 (UTC)