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This article was accepted on 14 March 2008 by reviewer Acer (talk·contribs).
It’s okay, I’m actually pretty busy so I’ll try to address any comments on the weekend User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk 15:43, 10 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Prose
Lead
"They have been found in the Pisco Formation of Peru and the Bahía Inglesa, Coquimbo, and Horcón Formations of Chile. " - any way to make this sentence fit better into the flow of this paragraph? It seems out of place
I think so. The issue seems to be the choppiness of the prior and posterior sentences here: "They are the only known aquatic sloths. They have been found in the Pisco Formation of Peru and the Bahía Inglesa, Coquimbo, and Horcón Formations of Chile. Thalassocnus are placed in the subfamily Thalassocninae of the family Megatheriidae." Let me know what you think. ceranthor 19:17, 15 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
" The long tail was probably used for diving and balance similar to the modern day beaver (Castor spp.) and platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)." - Are words missing between "balance" and "similar"? If not, I think it should be "similarly" rather than "similar"
done
Taxonomy
" The Horcón Formation specimen SGO.PV 21545, a foot, discovered in 2011 belongs to possibly T. littoralis, T. carolomartini, or T. yuacensis.[4]" - think perhaps too much separation between the subject and verb here. Suggest rephrasing.
@Dunkleosteus77: Still, the sentence is already pretty wordy so I think less separation would be helpful to the reader. ceranthor 19:17, 15 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
The more I look at it, the more it becomes more of a non-issue nitpick. I think this is fine. ceranthor 14:04, 16 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"A specimen discovered in 2012 from the Bahía Inglesa Formation of a right mandible, SGO.PV 1093, belongs to either T. antiquus or T. natans; also found were femurs, SGO.PV 1133, which are not assigned to a species." - same issue as just above.
"Thalassocnus is the only aquatic xenarthran–a group that includes sloths, anteaters, and armadillos–though, the ground sloth Eionaletherium from the Miocene of Venezuela may have adapted to nearshore life.[15] " - Why the comma after "though"?
"T. natans has the most complete skeleton preserved, and measures from snout to tail 2.55 meters (8.4 ft)" - Nitpick, but I don't think the comma after "preserved" is needed
"Thalassocnus may have exhibited sexual dimorphism, indicated by the variation of individual fossils of T. littoralis, and based on observed differences between two skulls of T. carolomartini." - Suggest removing the comma, as it disrupts the flow of this sentence IMO
What are premaxillae? A brief parenthetical or description would be helpful! Also, they should be linked at their first mention rather than their second.
"The structure of the tail vertebrae indicates strong musculature, and is similar to the beaver (Castor spp.) and platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) which use their tails for balance and diving rather than propulsion while swimming." - I'd remove the comma after "musculature" and add a comma before "which use"
"Thalassocnus were nearshore herbivores which likely became aquatic due to the area in which they lived in being a desert that could not provide enough food for their survival on land." - Very wordy as is. Two "which" phrases is, I think, excessive. Suggest rewording and reducing verbiage.
Not sure how relevant this entire section is to Thalassocnus. Might not be worth keeping it - can you point to other work where similar articles have taken this approach?
the source says “All rights reserved” so it looks like a copyvio, so I’ll just remove it User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk 15:57, 14 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Chiming in here, it says "reworked after", so it is not taken directly from the journal article. It could be too close to the source, but then it needs a deletion request rather than a speedy deletion tag, as it will need to be judged. FunkMonk (talk) 16:46, 14 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
@Dunkleosteus77: Good work! Sorry for the delay. These shouldn't take too much time to fix. Let me know if you have questions or responses. ceranthor 15:31, 14 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
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): Katcarson.
Etymology isn't provided by the authors, and I noticed that an IP recently gave in an edit summary "Greek: thalassa = sea / Græco-Roman: Ocnus = slacker," and, upon further reading, there is the word ocnus which is a verb, if I'm not mistaken, so the translation would be something really weird if that holds true. Is anyone out there good with Ancient Greek? User:Dunkleosteus77 |push to talk 02:34, 19 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
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): Katcarson.