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Present-day drainage area of the Pontocaspian domain. Yellow circles denote the locations of the stratotype sections of the main Quaternary stages of the Caspian Basin and Black Sea Basin: 1) Akchaghylian on Krasnovodsk peninsula (Turkmenistan), 2) Apsheronian on Apsheron Peninsula (Azerbaijan), 3) Bakunian in Baku (Azerbaijan), 4) Kuyalnikian (Ukraine), 5) Gurian (Georgia), 6) Chaudian on Cape Chauda (Crimea) and 7) Uzunlarian (Crimea). White circles denote the locations of key sections: 1) Pyrnuar (N38.93, E56.26), 2) Malyi Balkhan (N39.27, E54.97), 3) Yuzhny Urundzhik (N39.27, E54.50), 4) Ushak (N40.45, E53.37), 5) Lokbatan (N40.33, E49.75) and Jeirankechmez (N40.24, E47.09), 6) Duzdag (N40.70, E46.92) and Bozdag (N40.80, E46.84), 7) Pantashara (N41.23, E46.36) and 8) Kvabebi (N41.48, E45.68) and Kushkuna (N41.25, E45.44).

Present-day drainage area of the Pontocaspian domain. Yellow circles denote the locations of the stratotype sections of the main Quaternary stages of the Caspian Basin and Black Sea Basin: 1) Akchaghylian on Krasnovodsk peninsula (Turkmenistan), 2) Apsheronian on Apsheron Peninsula (Azerbaijan), 3) Bakunian in Baku (Azerbaijan), 4) Kuyalnikian (Ukraine), 5) Gurian (Georgia), 6) Chaudian on Cape Chauda (Crimea) and 7) Uzunlarian (Crimea). White circles denote the locations of key sections: 1) Pyrnuar (N38.93, E56.26), 2) Malyi Balkhan (N39.27, E54.97), 3) Yuzhny Urundzhik (N39.27, E54.50), 4) Ushak (N40.45, E53.37), 5) Lokbatan (N40.33, E49.75) and Jeirankechmez (N40.24, E47.09), 6) Duzdag (N40.70, E46.92) and Bozdag (N40.80, E46.84), 7) Pantashara (N41.23, E46.36) and 8) Kvabebi (N41.48, E45.68) and Kushkuna (N41.25, E45.44).

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The Pontocaspian (Black Sea - Caspian Sea) region has a very dynamic history of basin development and biotic evolution. The region is the remnant of a once vast Paratethys Sea. It contains some of the best Eurasian geological records of tectonic, climatic and paleoenvironmental change. The Pliocene-Quaternary co-evolution of the Black Sea-Caspian S...

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... individual water levels, environmental conditions, and faunal composition were largely determined by the local hydrological budgets. The two basins became connected during highstands of the Caspian Sea. During such periods, overflow of the Caspian Sea through the Manych low-land connection north of the Greater Caucasus enabled faunal exchange (Fig. 2). Environmental conditions became similar in both basins by mixing of the water masses and consequently migration and blending of the Pontocaspian fauna took place. Additionally, the Black Sea became connected to marine waters of the Mediterranean during interglacial highstands and the Pontocaspian biota were mar- ginalized. These ...
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... Caspian Sea is a lake: it is the world's largest endorheic water body ( Fig. 2) extending over 1200 km in latitude (36°-47°N), and 195- 435 km in longitude (46°-56°E). The surface area and water volume of the Caspian Basin critically depend on the regional hydrological bal- ance. The Caspian Sea is divided into three subbasins of roughly similar surface area, but widely differing in depth and volume. The North ...
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... Akchagylian stage was defined by Andrusov (1912), who de- scribed these deposits from the Krasnovodsk Peninsula on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea (Andrusov, 1889(Andrusov, , 1902(Andrusov, , 1906 and named this stage after the Akchagylian district (Fig. 2). Andrusov did not designate a stratotype, and later the Ushak well was proposed as lectostratotype (a stratotype used to describe a stratigraphic unit that does not have a sufficient holostratotype). The stratigraphic profile of the Ushak well was thoroughly studied by many authors; the Akchagylian deposits are around 100 m thick but ...
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... Apsheronian stage was established based on outcrops on the Apsheronian peninsula (Fig. 2) near Baku (Azerbaijan), and the Bailov Cap district was proposed as lectostratotype locality (Andrusov, 1923;Nevesskaya, 1975b). There, the Apsheronian deposits conformably overlie the Akchagylian deposits and are overlain, with an angular unconformity, by Bakunian strata (Nevesskaya, 1975b; Stratigraphy, Fig. 4. Distribution of the ...
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... Bakunian Stage was defined by Sjögren (1891) and comprises the sedimentary strata that conformably overlie the Apsheronian de- posits in the eastern part of the Apsheron peninsula of Azerbaijan (Fig. 2). Sjögren (1891) did not propose any stratotype and Golubyatnikov (1904) suggested the section Gora Bakinskogo Yarusa on the Apsheron Peninsula, which was later thoroughly studied by other researchers (Nalivkin, 1914;Fedorov, 1957;Mamedov and Aleskerov, 1988;Svitoch et al., 1992;Svitoch and Yanina, 1997;Yanina, 2005). The Neftyanaya ...
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... Black Sea is today a marginal sea of the Mediterranean (Fig. 2) and has a surface area of 436,400 km 2 (excluding the Sea of Azov), a maximum depth of 2,212 m, and a volume of 547,000 km 3 . Its E-W extent is about 1175 km (27°27'-41°42') and it stretches ~800 km N-S (46°33'-40°56'). At present, it is the world's largest meromictic water body; deep waters do not mix with the upper water layers ...
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... phases the Black Sea level tracked that of global sea levels. When the Mediterranean levels were below the sill, the Black Sea turned into an isolated, saline lake basin. Major rivers like the Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, and Don (via the Sea of Azov), supply fresh water to the Black Sea; together they drain a large part of continental Europe (Fig. 2). During intervals with a positive water balance the Black Sea level remained at the sill height and one- directional flow towards the Mediterranean Sea occurred. In times of negative water budgets, lake levels dropped until the total inflow (precipitation and river influx) equalled the evaporation in the Black Sea Basin (e.g., de la ...
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... the northeast, the Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait (Fig. ...
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... Kuyalnikian (or Kujalnician) is named after the "Kuyalnik Estuary" north of Odessa in the Ukraine (Fig. 2) and inherited its brackish-water regime from the preceding Pontian and Kimmerian water bodies of the Black Sea, after which the basin gradually desalinated. Salinity in the Kuyalnikian was relatively low, based on the abundance of fresh water mollusc and ostracod species. The config- uration of the Kuyalnikian basin was relatively ...
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... Gurian is named after Guria, western Georgia (Fig. 2). Ac- cording to most literature, the Gurian beds in the Black Sea Basin are mostly the equivalents of the Apsheronian of the Caspian region. The Gurian basin was significantly smaller than the modern Black Sea Basin (Fig. 3c). Consequently, Gurian exposures on land are relatively scarce and occur mainly in western Georgia and in the ...
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... Chaudian takes its name from the promontory Cape Chauda on the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea (Fig. 2), where also the stratotype sec- tion is located (Andrusov, 1889;Fedorov, 1963;Nevesskaya, 1963). The Chaudian basin was characterized by multiple changes in water level ranging from -140 to -30m ( Sorokin and Babak, 2011). Differ- ently oriented tectonic movements favored different preservation of Chaudian sediments. In the eastern ...
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... Uzunlarian ( Arkhangelsky and Strakhov, 1938) is a transgres- sive stage, that follows the regression at the end of the Chaudian. The stratotype section of the Uzunlarian is the Uzunlar section on the Kerch Peninsula ( Fig. 2: Arkhangelsky and Strakhov, 1938;Fedorov, 1963;Chepalyga et al., 1989). In the lower, sandy part of the section molluscs adapted to unusual salinities occur such as Didacna pontocaspia, D. pallasi, D. subpyramidata, D. baericrassa, Monodacna, Hypanis and Dreissena spp. In the upper part, Pontocaspian species were replaced by euryhaline ...

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... The center of the genus' habitat has probably always been the current Southern Caspian, which existed in various forms all the time, having survived the epochs of many transgressions and regressions and salinity fluctuations. The expansion of the genus' range obviously occurred during transgressions, the most extensive of which were Akchagylian (3.6-2.6 million years ago) and Apsheronian (1.8-1.0 million years ago) [Krijgsman et al., 2018]. During these events there were faunistic contacts with the Ponto-Azov and Aral basins. ...
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A partial revision of the genus Cercopagis Sars, 1897 was carried out with a redescription of the type species of the genus C. socialis (Grimm, 1877) and the species C. pengoi (Ostroumov, 1892). The nearby related genus Apagis Sars, 1897 was abolished, since its individuals represent only a temporary stage of the life cycle — females of the first generation hatched from resting eggs. Other species, C. micronyx Sars, 1897, C. longiventris Mordukhai-Boltovskoi, 1962, C. spinicaudata Mordukhai-Boltovskoi, 1962, as well as representatives of the “Apagis” forms are described briefly, since only little materials were available for them. There was no material available for the other three species of the genus Cercopagis. The partial nature of the revision is due to the fact that the author did not have sufficient material at his disposal, in particular, because the previously extensive collections of zooplankton from the reservoirs of the Ponto-Caspian-Aral basin have not been preserved. The representatives of the genus Cercopagis are discussed in the aspects of comparative morphology, taxonomy, peculiarities of sexual reproduction, geographical distribution, species richness, and origin. It is assumed that in recent decades, the species richness of the genus had undergone significant degradation due to large-scale changes in the aquatic ecosystems of the basin, in particular, in connection with the introduction of numerous alien species into the Caspian Sea. How to cite this paper: Korovchinsky N.M. 2024. Partial revision of the genus Cercopagis Sars, 1897 (Crustacea: Cladocera: Onychopoda), with the redescription of two species and comments on morphology, taxonomy, reproduction, species richness, zoogeography, and origin
... Ma), becoming the eastern bay of this vast water body (see Textfig. 14). According to some researchers (Svitoch, 2009(Svitoch, , 2014Krijgsman et al., 2019), the Aral Sea Textfig. 24. ...
... inostranzevi were found in sediments of this time (Danukalova, 1996). During the Apsheronian transgression of the Caspian Sea (Early Pleistocene), the Aral Basin was apparently not filled by its waters (Krijgsman et al., 2019). Although there is an opposite point of view (Svitoch, 2009(Svitoch, , 2014. ...
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Vinarski, M. V.; Kijashko, P. V.; Andreeva, S. I.; Sitnikova, T. Ya.; Yanina, T. A.: Atlas and catalogue of the living mollusks of the Aral and Caspian Seas. Vita Malacologica 23: 1-124. Leiden.
... The complete isolation of this sea-lake from the Azov-Black Sea basin is, according to the most maximum estimates, dates back to more than 35,000 − 42,000 years (Sorokin 2011; Krijgsman et al. 2019. It is impossible to exclude the absence of a two-way exchange during the last contact of these seas because the current was directed towards the Black Sea, and the Caspian waters were significantly desalinated (Krijgsman et al. 2019), and then the reasons for the deterioration of the Caspian littoral fauna could be sought in its more ancient history. ...
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... Depositional environments represented by strata exposed in the KFTB vary from shallow marine to terrestrial, and the strata are predominantly siliciclastic, with general coarsening-upward trends observed throughout most stratigraphic sections (e.g., Agustí et al., 2009;Forte et al., , 2015aVan Baak et al., 2013;Lazarev et al., 2019Lazarev et al., , 2021). Strata exposed in the KFTB were deposited in environments influenced by both the development of the GC and KFTB (e.g., Forte et al., , 2015a and large-magnitude (~1000 m) base-level changes of the Caspian Sea during the late Cenozoic (e.g., Popov et al., 2006;van Baak et al., 2017;Krijgsman et al., 2019;Lazarev et al., 2021). Variations in Caspian Sea base level along with potentially related intermittent connections between the Black and Caspian Seas along the southern range front of the GC (e.g., Popov et al., 2010;van der Boon et al., 2018;van Hinsbergen et al., 2019) are commonly considered a first-order driver of stratigraphy within the Kura Basin. ...
... First, this approach helps insulate our results from the disruption of future revisions to the Caspian time scale and its correlation with the global time scale. Establishing the absolute ages of the boundaries between Caspian stages, their correspondence with stages in the Paratethyan realm more broadly, and their correlation to the global time scale have all proven extremely controversial, with significant Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article-pdf/doi/10.1130/GES02704.1/7029152/ges02704.pdf by Louisiana State University user revisions and/or shifts numerous times over the past several decades (see review in Krijgsman et al., 2019). Some of these changes were significant enough to shift a regional stage from one global stage to another. ...
... Some of these changes were significant enough to shift a regional stage from one global stage to another. While concentrated magneto-and biostratigraphic work has significantly clarified the temporal extents of individual Caspian and related Paratethyan stages, disagreements remain, likely because (1) specific stage-bounding transgressive or regressive surfaces may have formed at different times in different Paratethyan basins, and/or (2) the individual stage-bounding surfaces may be time-transgressive within individual basins and their subbasins (e.g., Vasiliev et al., 2011;Van Baak et al., 2013, 2019Forte et al., 2015a;Krijgsman et al., 2019;Lazarev et al., 2019Lazarev et al., , 2021. Because of the long-standing and ongoing problems with correlation of the regional stages to standard international geological epochs, nearly all prior international literature on the stratigraphy of this region has used regional stage names (e.g., Mamedov, 1973;Jones and Simmons, 1996;Vincent et al., 2010Vincent et al., , 2013Vasiliev et al., 2011Vasiliev et al., , 2022Van Baak et al., 2013, 2019van Baak et al., 2016van Baak et al., , 2017Richards et al., 2018;Krijgsman et al., 2019;Lazarev et al., 2019Lazarev et al., , 2021Palcu et al., 2019;Aghayeva et al., 2023). ...
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... At the beginning of the Late Villafranchian (zone MNQ18), they lived in the south of Eastern Europe and in the Caucasus: A. verestchagini from Salcia (2.2-1.6 Ma) in Moldova (David, 1992) and from Taurida Cave (1.8-1.5 Ma) in Crimea (Vislobokova et al., 2019), A. insolitus from Dmanisi (1.85-1.77 Ma) in Georgia (Vekua et al., 2010;Krijgsman et al., 2019;Bartolini-Lucenti et al., 2022), and A. radulescui (=Rucervus radulescui) from Grăunceanu (MNQ18, 2.2-1.8 Ma) in Romania (Croitor, 2018b). ...
... Vulpes alopecoides has been reported from several Early Pleistocene sites across Europe, including Dafnero-1 in Greece [171], Dmanisi in Georgia [28,172], Fonelas-P1 in Spain [157], Kastritsi in Greece [171], La Puebla de Valverde in Spain [100], Makinia in Greece [171], Pirro Nord in Italy [30], Sesklon in Greece [171], St. Vallier in France [65], Upper Valdarno in Italy [34,150], Villarroya in Spain [173,174], and Volax in Greece [171]. In contrast, Vulpes praeglacialis has been found in later Early Pleistocene localities, such as Apollonia-1 in Greece [32], Atapuerca Trinchera Dolina 6 TD6 in Spain [127], Barranco Leon-5 in Spain [23], Cal Guardiola in Spain [23], Gombaszög/Gombasek in Slovakia [175], Caune de l'Arago in France [176], Deutsch Altenburg 2C in Austria [177], El Chaparral in Spain [23], Fuente Nueva 3 in Spain [23], L'Escale in France [178], Le Vallonnet in France [20], Püspökfurdö-Betfia 2 in Romania [179], Venta Micena in Spain [23], and Villany 3-8 in Hungary [180]. ...
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The Vallparadís Section encompasses various geological layers that span a significant chronological range, extending from the latest Early Pleistocene to the early Middle Pleistocene, covering a timeframe from approximately 1.2 to 0.6 Ma. This period holds particular importance as it coincides with a significant climatic transition known as the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, a pivotal phase in Quaternary climatic history. This transition, marked by the shift from a 41,000-year obliquity-driven climatic cycle to a 100,000- year precession-forced cyclicity, had profound effects on the Calabrian carnivorous mammal com- munities. Notably, the once diverse carnivore guild began to decline across Europe during this pe- riod, with their last documented occurrences coinciding with those found within the Vallparadís Section (e.g. Megantereon or Xenocyon). Concurrently, this period witnessed the initial dispersals of African carnivorans into the European landscape (e.g. steppe lions), marking a significant shift in the composition and dynamics of the region's carnivorous fauna.
... The habitat of the Caspian seal is restricted to the landlocked Caspian Sea, with no direct access to the World Ocean. The Caspian Sea is a remnant of the Paratethys, and is last thought to have shared an open connection the world's ocean 35 million years ago, although sporadic connections with the Arctic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea likely existed through Pleistocene glacial cycles (94,95). Caspian seals are estimated to have diverged from sister taxa around 1 to 2 million years ago (96). ...
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Introduction Viral diseases of pinnipeds cause substantial mortality and morbidity and can influence population demography. Viral metagenomic studies can therefore play an important role in pinniped health assessments and disease surveillance relevant to both individual species and in a “One Health” context. Methods This study used a metagenomic approach with high throughput sequencing to make the first assessment of viral diversity in Caspian seals (Pusa caspica), the only marine mammal species endemic to the Caspian Sea. Results Sequencing libraries from 35 seals sampled 2009–2020 were analysed, finding sequences from the viral families Circoviridae, Parvoviridae, Herpesviridae, Papillomaviridae, Picornaviridae, Caliciviridae, Cruciviridae, Anelloviridae, Smacoviridae, and Orthomyxoviridae, with additional detection of Adenoviridae via PCR. The similarity of viral contigs from Caspian seal to sequences recovered from other pinnipeds ranged from 63.74% (San Miguel sea lion calicivirus) to 78.79% (Seal anellovirus 4). Discussion Some findings represent novel viral species, but overall, the viral repertoire of Caspian seals is similar to available viromes from other pinnipeds. Among the sequences recovered were partial contigs for influenza B, representing only the second such molecular identification in marine mammals. This work provides a foundation for further studies of viral communities in Caspian seals, the diversity of viromes in pinnipeds more generally, and contributes data relevant for disease risk assessments in marine mammals.
... As such, under certain conditions, even relatively low escarpments can generate long-runout landslides. In the case of the western escarpment of the Ustyurt Plateau, landslides probably collapsed into the Caspian Sea during Late Quaternary transgressions 98 and were at least partially transported underwater, which increased their mobility 8 . ...
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... During the analysis of the results, we took into account that the accumulation of boulder-pebble molasses can be due to two factors: increasing energy of water streams as a result of (i) the uplift of drainage divides and (ii) a strong decrease in erosion basis. Taking into account the well-studied dynamics of Ponto-Caspian transgressive-regressive cycles of the Neogene-Quaternary (Nevesskaya et al., 2004;Popov et al., 2010;Yanina, 2012;Svitoch, 2014;Krijgsman et al., 2019), we omitted the deposits which accumulated in epochs of significant drops of erosion basis from indicators of orogenesis. ...
... The larger fractions were treated during the field works and the smaller fractions were sorted in laboratory. The results of fauna studies were compared with current Cenozoic biostratigraphic scales of the Ponto-Caspian region (Krijgsman et al., 2019). The faunistic collections were analyzed in the laboratories of GIN RAS, PIN RAS, and SCC RAS by A.S. Tesakov, E.V. Syromyatnikova, V.V. Titov, and P.D. Frolov. ...
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Molasses of foredeeps are important indicators of the newest orogenic uplifts, as well as the data source on climate and landscape changes. One of the fullest sections of Neogene–Quaternary deposits is studied in valleys of the Belaya, Pshekha, and Psekups Rivers at the junction of the Western and Northwestern Caucasus with Eastern Kuban and Western Kuban foredeeps. The formation of the deposits corresponds to the main evolution stages of the Great Caucasus orogen, as well as the foredeeps. Summary of extensive published and original tectonostratigraphic materials has shown that the lowland and then hilly relief in an axial zone of Western Caucasus existed since, at least, from the Middle Miocene. At the same time, the northern flank of the present-day orogen and the foredeeps were located at the sea level and were repeatedly flooded by the seas up to the Kuyalnikian (Piacenzian–Gelasian) time, and the Western Kuban Foredeep – even later. The main data on stratigraphy of the upper molasses and Pliocene–Quaternary tectonic movements of the region are based on facies analysis and bio- and magnetostratigraphic studies of the Upper Pliocene–Lower Pleistocene Belorechensk Formation. Its sedimentation started at the beginning of the Kuyalnikian as a result of an increase of the energy of mountain rivers due to the uplift of riverheads. It is stated that the minimum averaged rate of uplift of the Western Caucasus in the basin of the Belaya River is 0.8 mm/year over last 4 Ma with acceleration up to 1.7 mm/year from the beginning of the Calabrian. The Belorechensk Formation includes three subformations, which successively become coarser-clastic and correspond to the main stages of the accumulation of upper molasses in the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene during the intensification of uplifts and landscape-climate changes of Western Caucasus and Ciscaucasia.
... Miocene-Pliocene tectonic uplifts, glacio-eustatic sea level fluctuations, and sedimentation progressively filled the marginal sedimentary basins in the west and east, and the Paratethys Sea retreated drastically (Popov et al., 2004(Popov et al., , 2006. During the early Pliocene, around 3.6 million years ago, the Caspian Sea basin had the lowest sea-level ever recorded (Svitoch, 2016;Krijgsman et al., 2019). Significant areas of Transcaucasia, of the Turanian plate and in the fore-Kopet Dagh depression came up (Popov et al., 2006), and opened up a 'land bridge' as a possible gateway for plant migration Table 3 Synopsis of lineage features. ...
... Vast areas of southern Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia were flooded and shores extended to the southern Ural and the Volga-Kama basin in the north up to ca. 56 • N, to the Sea of Azov in the west, and eastwards to the Aral Sea and southern Turkmenistan up to the foothills of the Hindukush. The following Apsheronian transgression (dated to between 2.0 -1.0 Ma) is the second largest Caspian Sea transgression but sea shores extended only to ca. 51 • N, and in the east, the Aral Sea basin was not flooded, and waters penetrated only the most western parts of the Karakum in Turkmenistan (Popov et al., 2006;Svitoch, 2016;Krijgsman et al., 2019;Naidina andRichards, 2016, 2020;Pisareva et al., 2019;and references therein). ...