Talk:Protopone

Latest comment: 6 years ago by Kevmin in topic Date ranges

Date ranges edit

Kevmin, just so this doesn't clutter up other ant talk pages... The text specifically mentions that the Messel dates to 47 Ma, and the Sakhalin locality has also been assigned a date of 44.6 Ma in Barden (2017). In fact, all of my other date range additions are sourced from there. If you don't want the authority, sure, but I see no reason not to be as specific as possible on the dating. Lythronaxargestes (talk | contribs) 17:53, 30 November 2017 (UTC)Reply

@Lythronaxargestes: I would note the very top of the table in which the age is give, where it states specifically that ages marked with an * are controversial in age, thus its better not to use the very oddly specific date (which is referenced to the paleobiology database and thus to be taken as VERY suspect). Its better to go with papers specifically on the deposit, and not on Barden 2017.--Kevmin § 18:01, 30 November 2017 (UTC)Reply
Let's take the case of Cephalopone then. It's from the Messel, which is well-constrained in terms of its age to be 47 Ma. Is a generic "Middle Eocene" still better in this case? 18:06, 30 November 2017 (UTC)
In that case I think a good solution is to go with {{fossil_range|47|47|earliest=48.6|latest=40.4| [[Lutetian]]}} Which keeps the sightly more compact fossil range structuring on the output, and I have made the change. Looking at the Reference given for the McAbee and Klondike Mountain formations (which I have extensive knowledge of based on years of research, Bardens paper is picking a single reference for each age, and not reflecting what the current state of the dating may be (KMF is not considered to be possibly 55.8 myo in any current papers as the dating is very specific to be 49.5 +- 0.5ish)--Kevmin § 18:21, 30 November 2017 (UTC)Reply