User talk:Mcvallejo/sandbox

Hi does this work?Talkinser (talk) 14:45, 20 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Peer Review Comments

•In the Characteristics section

    o	You use many anatomical terms (eg. foramen). It would help to link more of these to Wikipedia pages if they are available (or provide a short definition if possible)

•In the Phylogenetics section

    o	Didn’t both clades diverge from each other at the same time? By “early-diverging”, do you mean the extant taxa within the clade started diverging from each other before the extant taxa within the other clade?
    o	You could include something about the number of times limbs have been reduced in squamates
    o	Any more detail on the recent work that was done for inferring relationships?

•In the Biogeography section

    o	I’m a little confused about the relationship between Anelytropsis and Dibamus. Is Anelytropsis embedded within Dibamus? Could you provide a little more information on how the two clades have diverged?

•In the Biology section

    o	Is there any more you could add here about the males having small limbs for reproduction (that you mention in intro)?

•General

    o	I noticed there a couple of text books that are cited frequently – are there other sources you could cite, or could you cite specific chapters?
    o	A few typos throughout

Talkinser (talk) 16:43, 28 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from Emily

[Nice job, you wrote a lot! Please keep the Taxobox that is on the existing Wikipedia page, as it is formatted really nicely. Also, throughout this page, but especially towards the bottom, there are lots of issues with names not being in italics, etc. Please make sure you fix this.

From general appearance section: Dibamids are burrower lizards characterized by their elongated bodies with blunt head and tail, and an apparent lack of limbs.[1][3] Relatively small, blind skinks can reach a maximum lengths of 250 mm in [should be length, not lengths, and please spell out inches from head to tail[3] but the snout vent length (SVL) is variable between both genus as well as the tail length [please fix the wording and grammar here. And you haven't mentioned yet that there are two genera, so that comes as a surprise.]. In Anelytropsis, the tail is longer than in Dibamus and represent [s needed at the end] between the [remove] 34 to the 38% of the snout vent length which can range from 77 to 180 mm.[2] In Dibamus, the tail corresponds to the [remove] 9 to 25% of the SVL that varies from 52 to 203 mm.[2]

Usually dibamids are dark colored, from brown to dark purple, with little variation along their body and lack elaborated patterns [please fix grammar].[2] It is common to find a color degradation from the darker back towards a lighter ventral side.[2] Scales are shiny and smooth and very similar and overlapping along with some variation in number and shape in the head and anal regions where males usually have additional scales to cover anal pores.[1][2] Scale row counts varies between both genus [genera]; Anelytropsis has 19 to 25 rows whereas Dibamus has 18 to 33.[2] In either group [both groups] osteoderms are present.[1][2]

General characteristics of the soft tissue includes a tongue that is covered in lamellae except in the tip, heavily modified ears without external openings or middle ear cavity or eustachian tubes,[2] and highly reduced eyes covered by a scale and lack internal structures [fix grammar], particularly in Dibamus.[6]

Dibamids are lizards with highly reduced limbs but they arenot completely limbless. Males and females have a [remove] rudimentary poorly developed hind limbs containing a femur, tibia and fibula [link these to the wikipedia pages for these bones] in males, and distal cartilage cap, this elements are more developed on Dibamus than in Anelytropsis.[7][2] Female dibamus lack the tibia and the fibula.[7]

The skull is approximately 5 - 7 mm in length[8] with reduced kynesis and additional support for burrowing. [what does this mean?][8][9] The combination of fossorial habits and small size, contributes to the development of a skull configuration that is frequently found in other groups of burrowers and miniaturized species[9][10][11]. Among those characteristics are the closure of thesupratemporal fenestra and the post-temporal fenestra, the relative large braincase, tubular or scroll-like palatines and modified jaw suspension mechanism with the quadrate articulating with the lateral wall of the braincase.[8][9][11]

Other characteristics of the skull of blind skinks include the absence of a parietal foramen,[2] the secondary palate is well developed, toothless and formed by three different bones, the maxillae, vomers and palatines which are expanded ventromedially to form a scroll. [use some different punctuation here, since it's not clear how to read this sentence][8] Nasals and frontals [are these bones?] are paired, contacting each other in a W-shape suture with no overlap between the two bones, several bones are lost (lacrimal, postorbital jugal) or highly reduced (supratemporal and squamosal).[8] The main cranial differences, besides sizes, between Anelytropsis and Dibamus is the presence of epipterygoid and postfrontal in the Central American genus.[2]

The mandible of Dibamidae bears less than 10 teeth and is composed of only three bones, the dentary, the coronoid and the compound bone.[2] A remnant of the splenial bone is only present in one species of Dibamus, Dibamus novaeguineae.[7]

[History section needs to be written out in complete sentences]

Phylogeny section: The relationships within Dibamidae species have only recently been assessed phylogenetically [and include what type of data was used, i.e., was this based on DNA?], showing that there are two major clades within Dibamidae.[12] The early diverging clade [Please DO NOT call it this! You can simply say something like "The clade that includes XX diverged from the second clade XX million years ago". And then continue with the other text, editing slightly so it fits well.] (approximately 69 million years ago), includes the one species form the genus Anelytropsis, Analytropsis papillous, and the species of Dibamus that are distributed along continental Southeast Asia.[12] The second clade (that diverge approximately 40 million years ago), includes species that are currently distributed in the peninsular Southeast Asia and Islands.[12] This phylogeny included seven of the recognized species of Dibamus and a more comprehensive phylogeny could help clarify the evolutionary history and biogeography of Dibamidae.[12]

The used of different methods to infer the relationships shows that Dibamidae is an early diverging clade within Squamata and that the clade is closely related to all other lizards and snakes.[5] Please fix the grammar in the first few words of this sentence, and again, do not use the words early diverging. The appropriate relationship is to say that Dibamidae is sister to all other squamates, which includes lizards and snakes.]

Biogeography section: Dibamids have a disjunct distribution with one genus living in Northern Mexico, Anelytropsis, and the other one, Dibamus, living in South East Asia (list of contires) [what is this?].

Biology section: Blind skinks are insectivorous and feed on arthropods and earthworms.[3] Blind skinks are characterized by their fossorial or burrowing habits (vitt book). Can dig their own burrows, use old burrows or other openings in the ground (vitt), or dwell under the leaf litter or logs.[2] [please fix the references in this section]

Species of the genus dimabus are frequently found in primary and secondary forests in a wide range of altitudinal variation (from the sea lever to approximately 1300 meters above sea level).[2] Anelytropsis is found in drier environments and is adapted to xeric conditions of different environments in northern Mexico.[2] Little is known about the reproduction of this group of lizards, but the inspection of female specimens from herpetological collections indicate that dibamidae lays single eggs[2] and, at least in dibamus, females lay eggs very frequently.[1] Eggs usually have a hardened shell.[1][Several issues in these sentences, italics for genus names, "lever", etc. Please fix.]

Conservation section: Any [Please fix, I don't know what this means] of the species that are included in Dibamidae are listed as endangered species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES.[18]

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) include some of the species of the genus Dibamus [Italics] and the single species of Anelytropsis in the red list of endangered species, most are in the category of least concern, however two species, Dibamus kondaoensis and Dibamus tiomanensis are listed as nearly threatened and endangered respectively.[19] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Emilysessa (talk • contribs) 17:30, 1 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]