Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Auriscalpium vulgare/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by GrahamColm 11:55, 25 December 2012 [1].

Auriscalpium vulgare[edit]

Auriscalpium vulgare (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): Sasata (talk) 03:24, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Auriscalpium vulgare is a widespread, curious little mushroom that grows on pine cones. The article has had a helpful GA review by J Milburn, and recently a further round of review courtesy of Circéus. I've exhausted my literature sources and am confident it meets the criteria for being comprehensive and well-researched. Sasata (talk) 03:24, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Image check - all OK. Mushroom Observer (cc-by-sa-3.0) and PD-1923. Author and source provided for all images. (Tweaked one license to a more specific tag). GermanJoe (talk) 07:54, 6 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support Comments from Jim You're making it hard to find nitpicks, but here goes Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:50, 8 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • fibrils — no gloss or link
  • array of tiny teeth — array of tiny "teeth", as you have done in the captions
  • both light and darkness — "either" instead of "both"?
  • the duff— obscurity for its own sake, why not link directly to forest floor?
  • Stockholm, Sweden: Impensis Laurentii Salvii. p. 1178 — you have presumably translated "Holmia" as Stockholm, but left "impensis" in Latin, inconsistent. I don't think you need "Sweden" either.
  • London, UK — Do we really need UK, especially as it's the Handbook of British Fungi?
  • At previous FACs, I've gotten "nicked" by Nikkimaria for not being consistent with including countries in the location parameters. What is the greater evil: inconsistency in formatting the location parameter, or insulting the reader's intelligence by stating the obvious? I think it's the former, but I silently apologize to readers when I include "UK" after London. About translating the publisher from Latin, I'm simply being internally consistent by not translating them! Sasata (talk) 15:22, 10 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • The problem is partly with me for "fibril", I think. I tend to forget about the into when revising articles. it does represent an interesting terminology point: the article says "hairy fibers", and I'm now curious if "trichome" would work? It seems not to be used for fungi, but "hair" apparently is (Kuo, MykoWeb and Barron use it), so that is probably good, and definitely is clear enough.Circéus (talk) 21:44, 8 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Since the word was used in the lead, I replaced it with the easily understood "hairs". Trichomes are analogous, but I too have never heard them used in mycology. Sasata (talk) 15:22, 10 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
OK now, supporting above Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:09, 11 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Support Comments from Cwmhiraeth A few comments, mostly on the prose. I then took a microscope to the references but failed to find an inconsistency or a period out of place. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 19:11, 15 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • "The dark brown cap of the small, spoon-shaped mushroom is covered with fine brown hairs, and reaches diameters of up to 2 cm (0.8 in)." - This sentence mixes singular and plural.
  • "... and growth is inhibited by excesses of either light and darkness." - I would use "or" rather than "and".
  • " The cap margin, usually lighter in color (buff to light brown–roughly the same color as the spines)[17] than the center, becomes rolled inward (revolute) and often wavy in maturity." - I think this sentence is too convoluted with the part in parenthesis separating the rest of the sentence too widely.
  • Microscopic characteristics - I like the way you have explained some of the technical terms in this section.
  • "Each cap extends along length of the septum, along with a zone surrounding the pore that is free of organelles." Is this sentence lacking a "the"?
  • "Initially they are erect but they soon fall under their own weight to lie on agar surface." - ditto
  • Have you considered putting the section "Growth in culture" at the end of the article? Where it is now it interrupts the natural history of the fungus.
  • I've thought about this type of organization in previous articles, but decided that it seemed to make sense to include cultural characteristics after microscopic characteristics. Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • " Spines start out as minute protuberances on the part of the stem adjoining the cap. As the cap enlarges, more protuberances are formed, which elongate vertically downwards" - As this stands, it is difficult to visualise the protuberances growing vertically downwards, because they are growing on the stem.
  • "In North America, its range extends north from Canada[26] south to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt south of Mexico City." - I don't think this sentence means quite what you intended.
  • Thanks for your review Cwmhiraeth, I've addressed most of your helpful suggestions in this edit. Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Comments Support by MacDui

I am in agreement with Cwmhiraeth that you have done a good job of explaining technical terms by the use of parentheses. I don't know Nikkimaria but I fear this "London, UK", "Stockholm, Sweden" stuff is another outbreak of the dreary nonsense that plagues Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (geographic names) i.e. this is probably American usage. I am unaware of any a priori reason to follow this scheme unless there is genuine ambiguity (e.g. Moscow, Idaho). Some specifics follow. One or two may duplicate Cwmhiraeth's comments, for which I apologise but I am running out of time to edit them out.

  • and reaches diameters of up to 2 cm
I can't fault the logic of the syntax but "diameters" plural reads oddly.
  • a crowded array of tiny teeth
They are not teeth as such but rather "tooth-shaped protrusions" or similar, which could be explained on first use. A link to Hydnoid fungi might fix this if you want to keep the existing wording.
  • I used your more accurate wording in this instance, and added "teeth" parenthetically, which hopefully give me freedom to use this common usage later. Hydnoid fungi is already piped to "tooth fungi" in the second sentence of the lead. Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • attaches to one side of the cap
This is a bit ambiguous. At first reading I thought it was a trite observation that the stem attaches only to the bottom side of the cap. I think "the edge of the cap" or similar would be more specific.
  • of either light and darkness
Surely it should be either " of either light or darkness" or " of both light and darkness".
  • potentially useful characters for phylogenetic analysis.
The lay person will wonder what is meant by "character". Can this be linked?
  • these combinations are therefore not validly published.
Do you mean that they "were not validly" published at the time or that they are "no longer validly published" under rules created subsequent to Kuntze and Banker's efforts?
  • when it was still a member of that genus
You are implying it changed genus. Surely "when it was still considered to be a member of that genus".
  • The cap margin, usually lighter in color (buff to light brown–roughly the same color as the spines) than the center, becomes rolled inward (revolute) and often wavy in maturity.
A few too many brackets and sub-clauses here I think. Can I suggest:
The cap margin is usually buff to light brown–roughly the same color as the spines and lighter in color than the center. It becomes rolled inward (revolute) and often wavy in maturity.
  • to instantly stain
is a split infinitive
  • I agree, but apparently, according to current schools of thought, this is no longer the grammatical crime it once was. ("... most modern English usage guides have dropped the objection to the split infinitive."). Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Shameful modernity. Ben MacDui 19:54, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Viewed under a light microscope, spores appear hyaline (translucent),
Missing "the" before "spores"?
  • Each cap extends along length of the septum
Ditto before "length"
  • Regarding nuclear division, the process of metaphase I of meiosis is similar to metaphase of mitosis
Ditto before "metaphase"?
  • Please link "inoculum" on its first appearance.
  • their own weight to lie on agar surface
"the" missing before "agar".
  • Crystalline deposits are abundant as small plate-like or star-like, randomly scattered crystals.
I couldn’t tell you why but I think this would read better as "Crystalline deposits are abundant as small, randomly scattered plate-like or star-like crystals.
  • the use of vegetative mycelium as inoculum precludes subsequent fruiting
missing "an" or "the" again.
I am not a mycologist and you have lost me here. What, in this context is "vegetative mycelium"? Is "vegetative" a legitimate descriptor of fungal material?
  • It is, but I've deleted the word as the meaning isn't significantly altered without it. Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • What is the "step tip"? I can guess, but is there a way of explaining or linking this - perhaps using the helpful diagram?
  • My error – should be "stem". Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • so that if the axis of the stem is rotated by 90 degrees, it will return to a vertical position within 24 hours
If the axis of the stem is rotated by 90 degrees is the mushroom not still vertical? I think you may mean "if the stem is tilted by 90 degrees".
  • I hadn't thought of it that way, but yes, you're quite correct. Thanks for the suggestion. Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • they will grow at right angles to the line of gravity
Gravity doesn't have "lines" as such to the best of my knowledge. Surely the direction of gravity?
  • Saprobic has a duplicate link in the Habitat section. Ben MacDui 21:07, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • I couldn't see a dup link for this.
It clearly isn't there - I think my redirect recognition software must have a bug. Ben MacDui 19:54, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I've left the country disambiguators in the location fields as is – I strive for internal consistency, as well as consistency across other fungal FAs. There are quite a few places called London (disambiguation) and Stockholm (disambiguation), so maybe it's not such a bad idea here?
It's my view that disambiguation should be undertaken only where necessary, not on principle. This kind of attention to largely irrelevant detail is presumably the result either of the truly global nature of the wiki, or the sad fact that peer reviews focus on trivia because few of the reviewers have any real knowledge of the subject under consideration. I am certainly not going to add to the tedium by making an issue of it. Ben MacDui 19:54, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Anyway, thanks very much for the detailed prose review, it's much appreciated. Have actioned most of your suggestions in the diff given above in the reply to Cwmhiraeth. Sasata (talk) 06:47, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A pleasure, your welcome etc. I look forward to telling local vulgare specimens of their impending exalted wiki-status. Ben MacDui 19:54, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I guess "recognized that the fungus was distinct from the other members of the genus" could be reworded. Technically all four were distinct from each other, which is why they are all classified as species. Am pondering whether "more distinct" or some other wording ("distantly related"...?)
fine. Casliber (talk · contribs) 19:20, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
members of the Auriscalpiaceae family of the order Russula—has been demonstrated through molecular phylogenetics. - "Russulales" surely?
  • Yes, "les" got chopped somewhere along the way ... Sasata (talk) 15:26, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I presume there is nothing published on intraspecific variation as you'd have found it and included it ...?
  • Well, no varieties have been named as such; the scope of observable intraspecific variation is weaved into the "Description" section, and also in the "Fruit body development" section. Sasata (talk) 15:26, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Otherwise looking good. Casliber (talk · contribs) 10:43, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • Thanks for your comments! Sasata (talk) 15:26, 20 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - I'm still running through and copyediting here and there., but the prose seems fine. I have a single nitpick in the lead; is it merely useless to provide a conversion here ("up to 55 mm (2.2 in) long and 2 mm thick")? ceranthor 19:39, 22 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for the support. It's standard to provide imperial conversions in biology articles; do you think it's useless because it's in the lead (repeated later), or the general practice of provide imperial conversions is useless? Sasata (talk) 19:43, 23 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • I meant that there is only a conversion for the first half. Is that so because the second conversion is too small to be practical? ceranthor 17:36, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • That is correct. I decided not to provide conversions for small measurements (less than 5 mm), because the # of sig figs going in should = those coming out, and there's no difference in the imperial output between (for example) 3 mm and 2 mm with 1 sig fig. Sasata (talk) 18:11, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]


The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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