Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Thescelosaurus

Thescelosaurus
This nomination predates the introduction in April 2014 of article-specific subpages for nominations and has been created from the edit history of Today's featured article/requests.


 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/May 24, 2013 by BencherliteTalk 09:36, 13 May 2013‎ (UTC)



Thescelosaurus is a genus of small ornithopod dinosaur known from Upper Cretaceous rocks of western North America. It belonged to the last dinosaurian fauna of North America before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at approximately 66 million years ago, living alongside dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. This common genus was described from a specimen discovered in 1891, but not unpacked and studied until the 1910s. These circumstances suggested the names of the genus and type species T. neglectus, which roughly translate to "godlike, wondrous, or marvelous neglected lizard". Thescelosaurus is best known from several partial skeletons representing three species: T. neglectus, T, assiniboiensis, and T. garbanii. One specimen was initially thought to include a preserved heart, but later study found the object is probably a concretion. Thescelosaurus was a bipedal animal with a relatively long pointed skull and robust limbs. Typical individuals measured on the order of 2.5 to 4.0 m long. It was probably primarily herbivorous and may have preferred to live near streams.


 * I propose Thescelosaurus for this date because it will be the centennial of its official description (May 24, 1913) (see a copy of the original article here). The article was promoted in 2007, and the last dinosaur article to be TFA was Psittacosaurus on January 7. This should give Thescelosaurus 9 points: 6 for the centennial, 2 for the promotion date, and 1 for length of time since the previous dinosaur. We have a number of other images; I just chose this one because it is the holotype, which I felt was most appropriate. J. Spencer (talk) 00:48, 26 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Support. - another dinosaur is good....Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:38, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Support. Educational, encyclopedic, great date, high quality page. Also, SCIENCE! &mdash; Cirt (talk) 02:16, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Support. Interesting article that seems in reasonable shape considering how long ago it was featured. The blurb ought perhaps to match the article in being slightly less definitive over the 'heart'. Also, the image is a little hard to make out with the uneven lighting; perhaps one of the other skeletons would be clearer? Espresso Addict (talk) 03:51, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I tweaked that line; with that and a couple of formatting fixes, it might on the long side. J. Spencer (talk) 15:07, 28 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Support per the above, but agree that a better pic would be highly desirable.--Smerus (talk) 14:08, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Support, but agree wholeheartedly about the pic. I've WP:BOLDly changed it to a clearer one; while I appreciate the holotype has historical interest, it simply isn't clear enough to be a good choice for a Main Page image. Prioryman (talk) 13:54, 27 April 2013 (UTC)
 * agree that a pic of a dinosaur like this is a lot more engaging than the bones. Casliber (talk · contribs) 20:35, 30 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Support - Love dinosaurs, this would be great to have on the main page, need more of them! Judgesurreal777 (talk) 16:36, 8 May 2013 (UTC)