Talk:Veratalpa

Veratalpa has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 23, 2010	Good article nominee	Listed

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on August 10, 2010.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that although the fossil mammal Veratalpa (astragalus) was described as a mole, it may instead be a rodent?

GA Review

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

Reviewer: Casliber (talk · contribs) 10:50, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

~~Intriguing article - from reading I am not sure, are all the six species from the one locality of Vieux Collonges? Is there any information at all about the fossil bed(s)?~~

Vieux-Collonges is a very rich fissure filling site that has yielded thousands of fossils, including all of Ameghino's "moles". Do you think we need more information on it in this article? I think we cover it reasonably already. Ucucha 11:39, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above isn't mentioned in it at all - I think adding " very rich fissure filling site that has yielded thousands of fossils" or words to that effect would be a good addition. Currently the article has nothing but the name and the fact some molelike fossil bits were found in it. Casliber (talk · contribs) 12:32, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I added something. Ucucha 12:42, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Much better. Casliber (talk · contribs) 12:54, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I can supply a Latin translation a bit later -I think it is vera "old" and Talpa "mole" - will double check when I can get my dictionary (I'll make sure I get page numbers).

It actually means "true mole"—ironic, isn't it? ("Old" is vetus; verus means "true".) But I don't think we should be giving the etymology when no source gives it; for all we know, Ameghino could have really liked a girl named Vera. Ucucha 11:39, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Duh, I realised that when I just looked it up - pages 593 and 638 of my Cassell's Latin Dictionary. - I am pretty sure he meant "true mole", well, the Talpa is 100% clear anyway. Casliber (talk · contribs) 12:32, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

~~A sentence about the age (i.e. earliest fossil record of) Talpidae would be good for some context.~~

I'm not sure—it's probably not a mole, after all. Ucucha 11:39, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. ~~Incidentally, if it isn't a mole, has anyone speculated on what else it might be?~~ astragalus is a cool bone, someone found an Allosauroid one near Melbourne - the first evidence of a big dino predator in Australia....Casliber (talk · contribs) 12:32, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Rodent, according to Hutchison, but nothing more specific has been suggested as far as I know. It doesn't look much like a rice rat humerus, at least. Ucucha 12:42, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

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- sorry, got sidetracked IRL last night. Casliber (talk · contribs) 20:44, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]