Talk:Stenocara gracilipes
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Which species? edit
I changed species to Stenocara gracilipes. It seems clear from all the online references that the particular beetle used as a model for water absorption nanotechnology is in the genus Stenocara but there are few references to S. gracilipes. If someone has access to the original Nature article, it would be useful to confirm. Glendoremus 01:46, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
- NGM charts the Namib Desert Beetle as Onymacris unguicularis. 195.22.51.135 (talk) 19:17, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
- Does it specifically say that this "Namib Desert Beetle" is the one studied for its water-absorption properties? The Namib desert is a big place, and has lots of species of beetles. I'm not sure that such a vague common name is restricted to only one species. Chuck Entz (talk) 02:22, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
- German Wikipedia has an article titled 'Nebeltrinker-Käfer' ('Fog-drinker Beetle'), with Onymacris unguicularis (Haag. 1875) as the species. There's also a reference online [1] that claims Onymacris unguicularis is the only 'fog-basking' Namib beetle- which just confuses things more... Chuck Entz (talk) 04:45, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
- This wiki article is a bit of a mess, and I've now added an expert needed tag. Several Namib beetles have been documented to have fog collecting adaptions, but few are known to actively collect it (incl. the famous head-standing behavior on top of sand dunes by Onymacris unguicularis). This wiki article confuses several of them. Among others, it is worth checking the following articles:
- Seely, M.K.; Henschel, J.R.; and Hamilton III, W.J. (2005). Long-term data show behavioural fog collection adaptations determine Namib Desert beetle abundance. South African Journal of Science 101 (11/12): 570-572. Abstract
- Nørgaard, T.; and Dacke, M. (2010). Fog-basking behaviour and water collection efficiency in Namib Desert Darkling beetles. Frontiers in Zoology 16;7:23. Full text
- Notice also that the Stenocara in the Nature article later was re-identified as Physasterna cribripes, but neither of these are known to be active fog collectors; see above citations for details. In any case user:Chuck Entz asked a valid question – is the name "Namib Desert Beetle" used strictly for a single species? Based on a very fast google search that doesn't seem to be the case, and it would be better as a disambiguation, leaving the individual species articles on the scientific names. RN1970 (talk) 03:33, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
- German Wikipedia has an article titled 'Nebeltrinker-Käfer' ('Fog-drinker Beetle'), with Onymacris unguicularis (Haag. 1875) as the species. There's also a reference online [1] that claims Onymacris unguicularis is the only 'fog-basking' Namib beetle- which just confuses things more... Chuck Entz (talk) 04:45, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
- Does it specifically say that this "Namib Desert Beetle" is the one studied for its water-absorption properties? The Namib desert is a big place, and has lots of species of beetles. I'm not sure that such a vague common name is restricted to only one species. Chuck Entz (talk) 02:22, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
Great article, some feedback! edit
Hi! My name is Sachi & I am currently a student in an ecology class. As a part of this class we are including comments on talk pages of articles with some comments & feedback we have, and I would love to contribute to this page with that information! Below, I have attached some of my comments for this article!
One of the strengths of this article is that it is very detailed and very well organized. The author writes about what makes this beetle special by starting with a general overview and describing how it works in detail. Additionally, they talk about how the mechanism by which this beetle survives has been studied by technology researchers to see if it can be implemented in human materials, which is a very interesting but relevant addition to the article - it kept me wanting to read more.
Three central categories that I think could be included are life cycle/lifestyle, ecology/behavior, and further research. While this article goes into a lot of details about the technology by which the beetle collects water, it is some of the only information that is provided on the page. Including some things about how these beetles are born and grow within the desert environment, especially reproductive habits of female beetles could be a great addition. I think adding an "ecology/behavior" section could build off the life cycle section because living in desert environments is known to be relatively challenging so more information on how this beetle interacts with other organisms in its environment could be an interesting read. Finally, I think a "further research" section would really make this article stand out because the author already has included information about how researchers at MIT are trying to harness this beetle’s water-storing technology for human purposes. Creating a whole section dedicated to that information could lend itself to the author being able to expand more on the progress this research has made, setting this article apart.
On the Talk page, Wikipedia states that this article has Start status with low importance in the Insects WikiProject. I agree with this assessment because this article is well written and includes lots of detail, it just needs more information about the beetle itself; right now it is mostly just focusing on the beetle’s water-storing capabilities. I look forward to seeing how this page develops because it already is a great read and I would love to learn more about this beetle.