Talk:New Zealand giraffe weevil

message: This article's title isn't even correctly spelled! I've submitted a technical request that the page be moved from Lasiorhyncus barbicornis to New Zealand giraffe weevil, and we can set up redirects from both Latin name variants; I'd do it myself but there's currently a redirection page occupying the space. Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 19:25, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move request 

message: Not 100% sure I'm going about this the right way, but I've just read over your fabulous improvements to the page and just had a couple of suggestions.
# Spelling error on line: "but it fact it belongs to the family Brentidae" - change first it to in 
# "closely related species in Australia, Madagascar, and southern South America" - it is true that there are other Brentid weevils in these parts of the world, although the Fauna of NZ series by Kuschel (will send to Mike) suggests that the closest relatives of Lasiorhynchus are in Sulawesi, Australia, Vanuatu and Fiji. Could be worth changing this?  
# " Females lay on a variety of trees, including kauri" - although it has been reported that this species lays eggs on kauri, I'm really doubtful of this. I have looked long and hard for them on kauri and never found any evidence of them using this species as a host tree. I suspect an adult was once found resting on a kauri tree and presumed to be using it as a host. I've got an updated list of host trees in my NZ J Zool paper if you wanted to check, but I think leaving the other ones you have listed is fine.  
# "Adult giraffe weevils generally only live for two weeks, although one male was recorded as living at least 29 days" - I haven't published this yet as still a work in progress but I've done a few years of mark-recapture on these guys and found that it is true they probably have an average lifespan of several weeks, but sometimes live several months (my record is a female that I recaptured after 84 days).  
# "as far south as Westland" - Recently a student at Lincoln Uni found one on a hut woodshed down in Fiordland on the Hollyford Track. Will email the paper.  
# "feeding on dead wood with with the assistance of gut bacteria which digest cellulose." - I think it is likely they might be eating fungus instead of the wood itself. See Brenda May's Fauna NZ series for notes on a dissection done on a giraffe weevil larva. Will email paper. 
Looking fantastic otherwise!  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.92.212.46 (talk) 20:28, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Those suggestions are all great, Chrissie. I'd caught the fungal diet reference in your paper and changed it. I'll make the rest of the changes; thanks so much for sending those papers through. Updating the information on lifespan has to wait until there's a published source we can cite (everything on Wikipedia has to be referenced, no unpublished research). I'll get to work. It's great when a subject expert can give feedback like this to help improve an article, Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 21:15, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

text: Righto, have made those edits as much as possible, added the references you supplied, and added two photos. The page is looking pretty good now! Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 08:55, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suggested edits by Chrissie Painting 

message: — Assignment last updated by Gbuml (talk) 21:12, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Behavioral Ecology 2024

message: Hello! I just took a look at your article. It was very thorough. I particularly liked your use of videos to elucidate the weevil's behavior. I made a few minor changes that I thought would improve your article: I reworded parts of the physiology section to improve writing cohesion, and I added links to other Wikipedia sites. NHanselman (talk) 03:31, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Review for Behavioral Ecology