Talk:Eciton burchellii

Eciton burchellii was nominated as a Natural sciences good article, but it did not meet the good article criteria at the time (December 30, 2013). There are suggestions on the review page for improving the article. If you can improve it, please do; it may then be renominated.

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This article was the subject of an educational assignment in Fall 2013. Further details were available on the "Education Program:Washington University in St. Louis/Behavioral Ecology (Fall 2013)" page, which is now unavailable on the wiki.

Peer Review

-I think the summary could use some work. There are no sources and it could be a little more comprehensive. -I think the behavior section is very comprehensive and I really like the organization. -I think of the section the “Effect of pheromones and weather” could be added to because that section is a little small and sparse. -I think there is a lot of specific information but it would be helpful to have more general information. I think information such as eusocial behavior would be good. Hansika.n (talk) 02:16, 31 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Edit suddestions: Oct 2013

The introduction needs some work. It's supposed to be a summary of the article, but it is missing key information and concepts. Without a source I don't think I'm willing to accept that fact that E. burchellii is the most studied ant in the world.

Under the anatomy section there isn't much info that could actually help anyone differentiate this ant from any other. Mentioning the different casts and how to differentiate them would be nice. I really don't like the use of the word phenotype to describe differences in morphology between different casts.

Under the nesting subsection I'd add that ants as well as all hymenoptera are ectotherms, and then I would go on to explain thermoregulation.

Somewhere here it should be mentioned that the ants are an eusocial organism living and working in groups. It's pretty important to understanding their behavior.

The effects of forest clearing isn't an acceptable subsection for behavior. Really it should be moved into something like a distribution or ecology range that describes the sorts of environments that these ants live in. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dudas 91 (talk • contribs) 23:11, 10 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Edits: October 2013

In an effort to round-out this article, I have added numerous sub-sections under the heading "Behavior." Not only do I find this species of ants an extremely interesting topic, but I also hope that my work will help spur on others to add to this article. Hopefully, together, we can get it up to a "Good Article" standing. This update was done as an assignment (see above), and any input that you may have for my update, as well as future updates to this page, is greatly appreciated. Thanks! Jdhale (talk) 15:33, 2 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's so amazing!

Does nobody else see how absolutely amazing this behavior is? There's not any mention of studies that attempt to discover why the ants behave in such a fashion. It blows the mind! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.135.105.211 (talk) 02:03, 14 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Eciton burchellii or Eciton burchelli

There is some controversy over whether the species name is Eciton burchellii or Eciton burchelli; I have seen both equally used. However, according to this source, E. burchellii was the original name and, due to taxonomic rules being recently stricter in adhering to the original form, the historically correct one. Perhaps someone could shed some light on this? Also, I have taken the liberty of moving this page from Eciton burchelli to Eciton burchellii - if this is a mistake, please move it back. +A.Ou 00:39, 11 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think www.antbase.org is a more comprehensive and authoritative reference. This Gives E. burchellii as the valid name. Shyamal 01:45, 11 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Edit suggestion

Great article! My advice would be to maybe elaborate on the individual sections as each of them is extremely short. Another important thing to note is that you should probably include a section about the eusociality of the organism and how it satisfies E.O Wilson's criteria. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JSDavis2 (talk • contribs) 15:42, 11 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comments for Improvement

The following article on Eciton burchellii provided a balanced and detailed examination of animal behavior, including discussions on foraging behavior, gene flow and nesting. Significant strengths include the extensive list of references, concise writing, and easy to understand language. One interesting fact that I learned is that the Eciton burchellii does not construct a physical nest, but builds a nest out of living members of the group. Furthermore, a few additional sections on mating selection, queen bee selection, and development would strengthen the article. While it discusses genetic drift, it does not delve into mate selection or mating rituals. Because reproduction is so important for the propagation of genetic material, this would strengthen the article considerably. Adding information on the process by which the queen bee is selected would be interesting as this event also dictates colony dynamics. Lastly, providing a focus area on development would make the article well rounded, and provide added insight into the lifecycle of the organismMmc7777 (talk) 04:28, 11 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Critique

Expand the summary
For caste determination, maybe have something unique about the different castes. Mention the differences between males, females, queens and workers
Expand or merge “Effects of pheromones and weather,” as there isn’t a lot of information in it

Pocketkings (talk) 21:27, 31 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review

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

Reviewer: FunkMonk (talk · contribs) 17:10, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This has too many missing citations to be ready, so a quickfail, sadly. FunkMonk (talk) 17:10, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Response to GA Review

Thank you for this review! Since then, I have added numerous more sources, linking previously unreferenced information to a reference. I will also be adding a "Eusociality" section later this week. Hopefully these changes will make my article of GA status. Jdhale (talk) 21:13, 19 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Jacob, I think this page is great. When you add that Eusociality section it should improve it a lot. I see that you have added more sources to the article and that is great! Good luck! If you need any help finding articles let me know. I will look and try to add somethings here and there. Kaijones5245 (talk) 22:57, 19 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Range?

I came here hoping to find out where these ants may be found. The closest I could find in the article was "...species of New World ants". It might be a good idea to describe their range. Thanks.--William Thweatt ^Talk^Contribs 19:56, 4 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Response to "Range?"

Hello! Thank you for this comment. I have expanded this page to better encompass the range of this species, including a subsection under the "Description" section. Hopefully this helps. If this section needs any other clarification or more information, please let me know. Thanks! Jdhale (talk) 00:35, 21 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Eciton burchellii/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Sainsf (talk · contribs) 13:09, 17 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! I would like to review this article. My first comments:

Lead

Eciton army ant is a way of referring to this species. It should be in bold rather than italics.

Done.

Polymorphic should be linked. Don't link it elsewhere in the article.

Done.

Use convert template in 200 meters

Done.

Please expand the lead. It should have more relevant details in it so that it appears as a perfect summary.
Instead of writingEciton burchelli everywhere in the article, abbreviate as E. burchelli

Description

Again, use convert template in 3 mm to 12 mm
ranging from 3 mm to 12 mm in what? Length or any other characteristic? If it does not deal with the physical description, don't include it here
Their long...bivouacs use references
Range should be an independent section. Try to expand it and use more references.
Taxonomy should be an independent section also, in fact the first section. Mention that Westwood named it. Add a sub-section Subspecies and discuss about them (if enough data is available) I wish you to merge the "Associated species" part into this section. It is important. Expand this as well.
Clarify, what is original publication?

Eusociality

This section speaks more about eusociality than the species discussed. You must be careful that all the information is restricted to what relation eusociality has wth the species. You may define eusociality here, but not more than that. I have not gone through it, for I am not an expert to understand this. So please see that you talk more of the species and less of eusociality. Further comments about this section after you finish doing this.

Colony structure

R. Jaffe et al. Who are they? Clearly mention their names and professions.

Nesting

Delete the duplicate link Hymenoptera

Done.

Evaporation is too common a word to link

Done.

Foraging practices

The inbound ants on the trail deliver prey that was captured by the outbound swarming ants. No reference
Use convert templates
Delete duplicate link nomadic

Antbirds and kleptoparasitism

Delete duplicate link bivouac

Done.

Gene flow

Delete duplicate link haplodiploidy

Done.

References

Don't use capitals in ref 7, 15, 20, 24, 27

I don't know how to fix this.

Rest appears good to me. I do not enter much in the material, I hope you have included correct facts. Please respond soon. Good luck! Sainsf <^>_{Talk all words} 13:09, 17 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am very sorry, but I have to fail this article, because you have not responded since fifteen days. This should not discourage you, however - you should go on with your good work. But please don't be late to reviews. Good luck! Sainsf <^>_{Talk all words} 14:07, 30 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Potential GA candidate

I have noticed two GA reviews resulted in a fail, but I believe this article is close to GA status once a little clean up + more references have been added. I might see what I can do with this article once I have finished with the jack jumper ant, which also failed a GA review. Article seems complete too, so not much further info should be needed. Burklemore1 (talk) 07:26, 14 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Comments for Improvement

The following article on Eciton burchellii provided a balanced and detailed examination of animal behavior, including discussions on foraging behavior, gene flow and nesting. Significant strengths include the extensive list of references, concise writing, and easy to understand language. One interesting fact that I learned is that the Eciton burchellii does not construct a physical nest, but builds a nest out of living members of the group. Furthermore, a few additional sections on mating selection, queen bee selection, and development would strengthen the article. While it discusses genetic drift, it does not delve into mate selection or mating rituals. Because reproduction is so important for the propagation of genetic material, this would strengthen the article considerably. Adding information on the process by which the queen bee is selected would be interesting as this event also dictates colony dynamics. Lastly, providing a focus area on development would make the article well rounded, and provide added insight into the lifecycle of the organismMmc7777 (talk) 04:28, 11 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]