"They have been found in the Pisco Formation of Peru and the Bahía Inglesa, Coquimbo, and Horcón Formations of Chile. " - any way to make this sentence fit better into the flow of this paragraph? It seems out of place
I think so. The issue seems to be the choppiness of the prior and posterior sentences here: "They are the only known aquatic sloths. They have been found in the Pisco Formation of Peru and the Bahía Inglesa, Coquimbo, and Horcón Formations of Chile. Thalassocnus are placed in the subfamily Thalassocninae of the family Megatheriidae." Let me know what you think. ceranthor19:17, 15 January 2019 (UTC)reply
" The long tail was probably used for diving and balance similar to the modern day beaver (Castor spp.) and platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)." - Are words missing between "balance" and "similar"? If not, I think it should be "similarly" rather than "similar"
done
Taxonomy
" The Horcón Formation specimen SGO.PV 21545, a foot, discovered in 2011 belongs to possibly T. littoralis, T. carolomartini, or T. yuacensis.[4]" - think perhaps too much separation between the subject and verb here. Suggest rephrasing.
"A specimen discovered in 2012 from the Bahía Inglesa Formation of a right mandible, SGO.PV 1093, belongs to either T. antiquus or T. natans; also found were femurs, SGO.PV 1133, which are not assigned to a species." - same issue as just above.
"Thalassocnus is the only aquatic xenarthran–a group that includes sloths, anteaters, and armadillos–though, the ground sloth Eionaletherium from the Miocene of Venezuela may have adapted to nearshore life.[15] " - Why the comma after "though"?
"T. natans has the most complete skeleton preserved, and measures from snout to tail 2.55 meters (8.4 ft)" - Nitpick, but I don't think the comma after "preserved" is needed
"Thalassocnus may have exhibited sexual dimorphism, indicated by the variation of individual fossils of T. littoralis, and based on observed differences between two skulls of T. carolomartini." - Suggest removing the comma, as it disrupts the flow of this sentence IMO
What are premaxillae? A brief parenthetical or description would be helpful! Also, they should be linked at their first mention rather than their second.
"The structure of the tail vertebrae indicates strong musculature, and is similar to the beaver (Castor spp.) and platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) which use their tails for balance and diving rather than propulsion while swimming." - I'd remove the comma after "musculature" and add a comma before "which use"
"Thalassocnus were nearshore herbivores which likely became aquatic due to the area in which they lived in being a desert that could not provide enough food for their survival on land." - Very wordy as is. Two "which" phrases is, I think, excessive. Suggest rewording and reducing verbiage.
Not sure how relevant this entire section is to Thalassocnus. Might not be worth keeping it - can you point to other work where similar articles have taken this approach?
Chiming in here, it says "reworked after", so it is not taken directly from the journal article. It could be too close to the source, but then it needs a deletion request rather than a speedy deletion tag, as it will need to be judged.
FunkMonk (
talk)
16:46, 14 January 2019 (UTC)reply