Template:Did you know nominations/Hemiberlesia lataniae

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 12:49, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Hemiberlesia lataniae

  • ... that the palm scale was first found on an endemic species of palm on the island of Réunion but now infests plants in at least 78 families around the world?
  • Reviewed: Steeplechase Park
  • Comment: The palm Latania borbonica (mentioned in one source) is a synonym of Latania lontaroides

5x expanded by Cwmhiraeth (talk). Self-nominated at 10:43, 25 December 2019 (UTC).

  • The article is 5x expanded, long enough and neutral. However, I found quite large parts to be unsourced, e.g. the article says 'In many parts of the world, only female insects are present, and they breed by parthenogenesis', but I couldn't find a source for this, rather the sources say 'some parts' at most. Additionally, it seems like the first part of the description is a bit WP:OFFTOPIC as it is about scale insects in general and not this particular species. Would be great if you could have a look at these issues and add a few more inline sources. Otherwise, QPQ is fine. Happy with the hook, but couldn't verify the part about is being found first on a palm on the island of Réunion, do you have a source for that? Thanks! Achaea (talk) 20:08, 25 December 2019 (UTC)
@Achaea: Responding to your points in order: I could change "many parts" to "some parts", the source gives three examples, two of which are all female; if there are no males in a population, breeding must be by parthenogenesis by definition; I wouldn't say the early part of the description is off topic, but if the reader knows nothing about scale insects and I only mention what is in the source, they would probably be mystified; I could add a reference for the first part of the description but am not keen on removing it; the bit about Reunion is in the lead; as the palm tree Latania lontaroides from which the insect was first described in 1869 is endemic to Reunion, it seems reasonable to conclude that the insect came from Reunion, although the Peña source does not actually say that. What do you think? Cwmhiraeth (talk) 20:52, 25 December 2019 (UTC)
@Cwmhiraeth: Thanks for your response, according to this source its distribution is basically worldwide, of which only California and Israel are mentioned as unisexual, so would prefer 'some parts'. Otherwise happy with everything else you said, fair enough about the description of scale insects, and didn't clock that the palm was only endemic to Reunion, so hook is all fine then! Achaea (talk) 21:43, 25 December 2019 (UTC)
@Achaea: Thank you. I have changed "many" to "some" and added a reference for the earlier part of the description. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:38, 26 December 2019 (UTC)
@Cwmhiraeth: Awesome, all good to go! Achaea (talk) 11:00, 26 December 2019 (UTC)