Oroperipatus tiputini: A new species of Velvet Worm from the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Velvet Worms, Onychophora, are a unique group of elongate, soft bodied, many legged  Animals, given phylum status and considered to be among the closest living relatives to the Arthropods. They are currently the only known phylum of Animals known entirely from terrestrial species, both living and fossil, although they may be related to the Lobopodans, an entirely marine group known only from Early Palaeozoic fossils. 

The 230 living Velvet Worm species are divided into two groups, the Peripatidae, found in the tropics of Central and South America, the Antilles Islands, Gabon, India, and Southeast Asia, and the Peripatopsidae, found in Chile, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand. All South American members of the Peripatidae are placed within a single clade, the Neopatida, which is further divided into two lineages, the 'Andean' genus Oroperipatus, and the 'Caribbean' lineage, comprising all other genera.

In a paper published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution on  14 June 2024, Jorge Montalvo-Salazar of  the Instituto de Biodiversidad Tropical at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and the Laboratorio de Zoología Terrestre at the Quito Museo de Zoología, Lorena Bejarano and Alfredo Valarezo of the Instituto de Energía y Materiales at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and Diego Cisneros-Heredia, also of the Instituto de Biodiversidad Tropical at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and the Laboratorio de Zoología Terrestre at the Quito Museo de Zoología, and of the Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and the Ecuadorian Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, describe a new species of Oroperipatus from the Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador.

The new species is described from five male, three female, and three juvenile specimens collected in the vacinity of the Tiputini Biodiversity Station of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Orellana Province, Ecuador, between 2001 and 2023, as  well as one youngling, which one of the female specimens gave birth to in captivity. The new species is named Oroperipatus tiputini, in reference to the location where it was discovered. 

Oroperipatus tiputini, adult female holotype (ZSFQ-i8248) and youngling paratype (ZSFQ-17794) a few days after being born. Pedro Peñaherrera in Montalvo-Salazar et al. (2024).

Adult female specimens of Oroperipatus tiputini very between 46 and 65.3 mm in length, while the adult males are smaller at 22.7 to 39.8 mm. Females have between 37 and 40 pairs of legs, while the males have between 34 and 37, although one male specimen had a different number of legs on each side, with 35 legs on the right and 36 legs on the left. The species shows considable colour variation, with one adult male being a light brown colour with a faint rhomboid pattern, two adult males and one adult female being brown with orange diamonds, and another female (the one which produced a youngling) being a plain dark orange colour. The youngling itself was yellowish with a diamond pattern. All specimens were darked on their heads and antenae,  had orange or brown legs, and a distinctive white band on the head.

Oroperipatus tiputini, adult male paratype, ZSFQ-i8270. Pedro Peñaherrera in Montalvo-Salazar et al. (2024).

Most specimens of Oroperipatus tiputini were found on small herbaceous Plants within old growth, closed canopy upland forests around the Tiputini Biodiversity Station. Other specimens were found in leaf litter, or on the butress roots of trees to a height of about 70 cm above the ground. One specimen was found in a Bromiliad. The Worms were more active at night. 

Oroperipatus tiputini, adult male paratype, ZSFQ-i5151. Diego Cisneros-Heredia in Montalvo-Salazar et al. (2024).

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Pebanista yacuruna: A new species of South Asian River Dolphin from the Miocene of Peru.

Toothed Whales, Odontocetes, are known to have colonised freshwater systems multiple times during the Neogene, resulting in four distinct lineages of 'River Dolphins' in different geographical areas, the Iniidae, Lipotidae, Platanistidae, and Pontoporiidae. The Lipotidae had a single species which persisted into modern times, Yangtze River Dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer, but which is thought to have become extinct in the late twentieth century due to Human activities. The Platanistidae comprises two species of completely freshwater-dwelling Dolphins from South Asia, Platanista minor from the Indus River system, and Platanista gangetica from the Ganges River and associated waterways. The Iniidae comprises a single genus of River Dolphins from South America, Inia, as well as a number of fossil species in four extinct genera. The single known species of Pontoporiidae, the La Plata River Dolphin, Pontoporia blainvillei, is also found in South America, but is not an obligate freshwater dweller, also venturing into coastal waters.

The two species of Platanista are among the most highly specialised Cetaceans, with large enlarged, thin and pneumatic supraorbital crests enclosing their melons (fatty organs used in echolocation), and eyes reduced to the point where they are almost blind; an evolutionary adaptation to living in sediment laden waters. A number of fossil Dolphins have been assigned to the Platanistidae, but all are from marine sediments, leaving no clear indicator as to when the group moved into freshwater systems. The South American Iniidae present a similar situation, with most known fossil species coming from marine deposits, although one freshwater species, Ischyrorhynchus vanbenedeni, has been described from the Late Miocene of Argentina.

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances on 20 March 2024, Aldo Benites-Palomino of the Department of Paleontology at the University of Zurich, and the Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados at the Museo de Historia Natural of the Universidad nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Gabriel Aguirre-Fernández, also of the Department of Paleontology at the University of Zurich, Patrice Baby of Geosciences-Environnements Toulouse at the Université de Toulouse, Diana Ochoa of the Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo integral y Sostenible at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and the Departmento de Geología at the Universidad de Salamanca, Ali Altamirano, also of the Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados at the Museo de historia natural of the Universidad nacional Mayor de San Marcos, John Flynn of the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, and the Graduate Programs in Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at the City University of New York, Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra, again of the Department of Paleontology at the University of Zurich, Julia Tejada, again of the Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados at the Museo de Historia Natural of the Universidad nacional Mayor de San Marcos, the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, and of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology, Christian de Muizon of the Departement Origines et Evolution at the Muséum Nation-al d’Histoire Naturelle, and Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi, once again of the Departamento de Paleontología de Vertebrados at the Museo de Historia Natural of the Universidad nacional Mayor de San Marcos, the Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo integral y Sostenible at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, describe a new species of  Platanistid Dolphin from the Early to Middle Miocene Pebas Formation of Peruvian Amazonia.

The new species is named Pebanista yacuruna, where 'Pebanista' is a combination of Pebas, after the formation from which the fossil came, and Platanista, the only living genus of Platanistid Dolphin, and 'yacuruna' is a mythical water creature from the folklore of the Kichua peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. The new species is described from a single partial skull, comprising the posterior part of the rostrum, the facial region including part of the right supraorbital crest, the temporal and occipital regions.

Pebanista yacuruna, MUSM 4017. holotype skull in dorsal (A) and (B), ventral (C) and (D), left lateral (E) and (F), and anterodorsal views (F) and (G). Benites-Palomino et al. (2024).

The skull has a preserved length of 698 mm and an estimated width of 281 mm. The sutures of the skull are well fused, indicating that it was an adult at the time of death. The vertex of the skull is deviated leftwards, the premaxillae in the rostrum and facial areas is asymmetric, the braincase is anteroposteriorly shorter than wide; and the palatines lack contact and project dorsolaterally, all of which are diagnostic of the Platanistidae. Based upon the width of the skull, the living Dolphin is estimated to have been between 281 cm and 247 cm in length. Although Pebanista yacuruna undoubtedly occupied an inland, freshwater environment, it is similar in size to marine members of the group, considerably larger than living Platanista spp., and recent River Dolphins in general.

Size comparison between 'River Dolphins' and marine Platanistoids and River Dolphins. White silhouettes indicate the minimum body length calculated or recorded; gray body outlines indicate the largest size recorded or estimated in: (A) Macrosqualodephis ukupachai, (B) Zarhachis flagellator, (C) Pontoporia blainvillei, (D) Pebanista yacuruna, (E) Inia geoffrensis, (F) Platanista gangetica, and (G) Lipotex vexillifer. (H) Artistic reconstruction of Pebanista yacuruna. Jaime Bran in Benites-Palomino et al. (2024).

All known living members of the Platanistidae are restricted to the river systems of South Asia. Fossil Platanistid Dolphins are fairly common in the Oligocene and Miocene, when they appear to have had a global distribution and to have occupied a range of ecological niches, but all previously described fossils of the group are considered to have been marine. The group reached peak diversity in the Early Miocene, declining in numbers and diversity after this time, following the emergence of f other toothed Cetacean groups such as Delphinoids, Beaked Whales, and Physeteroids around the time of the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum. 

The Early Miocene was a time of global cooling, as well as increased subsidence in the Andean-Amazonian foreland basin system, with most of the modern west Amazon rainforest area in Colombia, Peru, and Brazil covered by a continental-scale fresh water to brackish water foreland system (the Pebas System) parallel to the Andes. During the Early Miocene there were at least two large scale marine influxes from the Caribbean Sea into this basin. This wetland ecosystem reached its maximum extent during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, as a complex arrangement of terrestrial and aquatic environments rich in nutrients and prey types, inhabited by a wide range of Fish, Turtles, Crocodylians (Caimans and Gharials), and mammals (Marsupials, Sloths, Rodents, Primates, and Ungulates), among others. This resource rich ecosystem appears to have favoured large sizes in predators such as Pebanista yacuruna and Gharials, a group of Crocodilians which also have marine ancestry, but which today are restricted to South Asia.

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Understanding the nature of the exceptional fires in the Brazilian Amazon in 2019.

Fires in the Amazon in 2019 attracted much political and media attention, but it was not immediately clear what was burning. This is crucial to understanding impacts and identifying solutions. There are three broad types of fire in the Amazon. First, there are deforestation fires; the process of clearing primary forest which starts with the vegetation being felled and left to dry. Fire is then used to prepare the area for agriculture. Second, there are fires in areas that have been previously cleared. For example, cattle ranchers use fire to rid pastures of weeds, and smallholders, indigenous and traditional peoples use fire in farm‐fallow systems. Not all fires in previously cleared lands are intentional; some escape beyond intended limits. Third, fires can invade standing forests, either for the first time when flames are mostly restricted to the understorey, or as repeated events, resulting in more intense fires. Different types of fire have different drivers. While weak governance may lead to more deforestation fires, climate change makes forests hotter and drier, thus more likely to sustain uncontrolled fires. Different fire types also have different impacts. For example, uncontrolled fires in open lands can kill livestock and destroy crops and farm infrastructure, while even low‐intensity forest fires can kill up to 50% of the trees and reduce the value of the forests for local people. In contrast, farm‐fallow fires are essential for the food security and livelihoods of some of the Amazon's
poorest people. A failure to distinguish between different fire types has contributed to the uncertainty surrounding the recent Amazonian fires, and has important implications for policy responses.

A fire burning in the Jacunda National Forest in Rondônia State, Brazil, in 2019. Eraldo Peres/The Harvard Gazette.

In a paper published in the journal Global Change Biology on 15 November 2019, Jos Barlow of the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University, and the Universidade Federal de Lavras, Erika Berenguer, also of the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University, and of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, Rachel Carmenta of the Department of Geography and Conservation Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, and Filipe França of the Instituto de Ciências Biológicas at the Universidade Federal do Pará, as well as some other contributors that declined authorship to maintain anonymity, evaluate the Brazilian government's claims that the Amazon fire situation in August 2019 was ‘normal’ and ‘below the historical average’ by assessing the longer term trends in active fires and annual deforestation and recent monthly deforestation trends.

The number of active fires in August 2019 was nearly three times higher than in August 2018 and the highest since 2010. There is strong evidence this increase in fire was linked to deforestation. To examine this, Barlow et al. first estimated 2019 deforestation, as the numbers from the Brazilian PRODES system for measuring annual deforestation are yet to be published. The area of deforestation detected by PRODES runs from August to July each year and is, on average, 1.54 higher than near‐real‐time DETER‐b measure of deforestation. Using this conversion factor suggests that over 10 000 km² of forest was lost in the period between August 2018 and July 2019, which would make it the highest annual loss since 2008. These annual trends are mirrored by a sharp increase in monthly deforestation detected by DETER‐b—deforestation in July 2019 was almost four times the average from the same period in 2016–2018.

The marked upturn in both active fire counts and deforestation in 2019 therefore refutes suggestions that August 2019 was a ‘normal’ fire month in the Amazon. Moreover, the increase in fires has occurred in the absence of a strong drought, which can be a good predictor of fire occurrence. The important contribution of deforestation‐related fires was consistent with media footage of large‐scale fires in deforested areas, while the enormous plumes of smoke that reached high into the atmosphere can only be explained by the combustion of large amounts of biomass. The unusual nature of 2019 was also emphasized by exceptionally high fire counts in some protected areas, such as Jamanxim National Forest where active fires increased by 355% from 2018 to 2019, 44% above the long‐term average. 

A fire burning in the Jamanxim National Forest in Para State, Brazil, in 2019. Victor Moriyama/Greenpeace.

Some key uncertainties remain. Despite the large‐scale fires seen in August 2019, there was a 35% drop in active fires in September, and it is unclear to what extent rainfall or the recent 2‐month fire moratoria declared by President Bolsonaro has contributed to this. Crucially, it is also unclear what will happen now the ban has been lifted. The figures from DETER‐b suggest deforestation remained well above average in September, despite the moratoria. Moreover, over the last 20 years, 65% of annual fire detections occur from September to December, which is the peak of the dry season for much of the Amazon. Given the essential role of fire in clearing felled vegetation, these recently deforested areas are very likely to burn at some point in the future.

Another uncertainty relates to the extent of forest fires. These are rarely detected by active fire counts, for example, active fire counts during the 2015 El Niño were unexceptional, even though forest fires burned 10 000 km² in the Santarém region and affected many other areas of the Amazon in one of the strongest El Niño‐mediated droughts on record. However, weekly mapping in August 2019 has already revealed 85 km² of forest fires in the frontier region of Brazil and Peru despite the lack of an unusual drought in 2019.

Managing Amazonian fires requires understanding what is burning, what drives contagion and extent, and how different drivers combine to make the Amazon more flammable. Tackling deforestation is key; forest clearance is a major source of ignition, and augments the flammability of remaining forests by increasing edge density, raising regional temperatures and reducing rainfall. Brazil's successful deforestation action plan of 2004–2012 provides a clear blueprint for action, but is contrary to the current government's approach of undermining forest monitoring and cutting resources for law enforcement.

An overview of fire types, drivers and their positive feedbacks on fire prevalence. Fire types are shaded by the three broad classes of fire in the Amazon: Deforestation (dark grey), fires on previously cleared lands (grey), and forest fires (light grey). Deforestation and agricultural fires are intentional, while uncontrolled fires are either started accidentally or through malevolent intent. Barlow et al. (2019).

Preventing forest fires will also require action to prevent illegal logging operations, as microclimatic changes make logged forests more flammable. Near‐real‐time monitoring and forecasting of drought intensity and fire risk would also help, especially if linked to responsive, resourced and capable local fire brigades. Global climate change is also a key driver of change in the Amazonian system, increasing both dry season lengths and temperatures. Maintaining the climate change mitigation potential of the Amazon is therefore itself dependent on reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the world.

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Mico munduruku: A new species of Marmoset from the Amazon Basin.

Marmosets are small New World Monkeys, Platyrrhini, with claw-like nails and the incisor and canine teeth of the lower jaw modified for boring holes in Trees to obtain sap, a significant part of their diet. The group is well studied in the Atlantic Forests of Brazil, but also present in the forests of the Amazon Basin, where they are less well understood.

In a paper published in the journal PeerJ on 25 July 2019, Rodrigo Costa-Araújo of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia and the Departamento de Genética at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Fabiano de Melo of the Departamento de Engenharia Florestal at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, and the Unidade Acadêmica Especial Ciências Biológicas at the Universidade Federal de Goiás, Gustavo Rodrigues Canale of the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Sandra Hernández-Rangel, also of the Departamento de Genética at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Mariluce Rezende Messias of the Departamento de Biologia at the Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Rogério Vieira Rossi of the Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia at the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Felipe Silva of the School of Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Salford, and the Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Maria Nazareth Ferreira da Silva of the Coleção de Mamíferos at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Stephen Nash of the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University, Jean Boubli, also of the School of Environment and Life Sciences at University of Salford, and Izeni Pires Farias and Tomas Hrbek, again of the Departamento de Genética at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, describe a new species of Marmoset from the Tapajós–Jamanxim interfluve (i.e. the area between the Tapajós and Jamanxim rivers) in the southwest of Pará State, Brazil.

The new species is placed in the genus Mico, and given the specific name munduruku, in honour of the Munduruku Amerindians of the Tapajós–Jamanxim interfluve. The species was first identified by its coat, which is distinctive and cannot easily be mistaken from that of any other previously described Marmoset, and later confirmed as a separate species by genetic analysis. Members of this species are white in colour with a a beige-yellowish spot on the elbow, and beige-yellowish saddle.

Mico munduruku, artists impression. Stephen Nash in Costa-Araújo et al. (2019).

Mico munduruku is found in lowland terra firme rainforest (i.e. rainforest which does not flood), from the left margin of the Jamanxim River, below the mouth of Novo River, possibly up to the right margin of the upper Tapajós River, below the mouth of Cururú River. The Tapajós–Jamanxim interfluve covers an area of about 120 000 km², slightly less than the area of New Mexico or England, although the area occupied by Mico munduruku is thought to only cover about 55 000 km². This region is one of the main fronts of forest destruction within the Arc of deforestation, a region infamously characterised by fast, intense and disordered conversion of forests to pastoral and agricultural land and human settlements, and has area has suffered extensive environmental damages due to illegal logging and agricultural expansion—this is happening even within federal conservation units and protected indigenous lands. There are also there are four hydroelectric plants in the process of implementation in this region. The population structure of Mico munduruku is to poorly understood to properly assess it's conservation status at this time, but Costa-Araújo et al. nevertheless express extreme concern about the future of the species given the immediate threats to its environment.

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International community begins to send support to the Amazon after Brazil makes concessions on outside interference.

The international community has begun to send aid to the Amazon Basin after the Brazilian Government conceded that it is obliged to fight the fires there and that it needs help to do so. More fires have been recorded in the Amazon Basin this year than ever before, around 75 000 according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, around twice as many as were recorded in 2018, most of them set by companies wishing to exploit the land for agriculture, cattle rearing or mining, yet the government of President Jair Bolsonaro has issued less than 7000 fines, a roughly 30% drop on last year. This has drawn widespread condemnation from both inside and outside the country, particularly after the former director of the National Institute for Space Research, Ricardo Galvão, was fired for releasing figures on the fire with which President Bolsonaro disagreed.

A forest fire burning in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August 2019. AFP/Getty Images.

Matters came to a head earlier this month when French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to block a trade deal between the EU and South American nations unless Brazil addresses the situation, prompting Bolsonaro to accuse him of colonial interference. However, despite support for Brazil's position by the governments of Britain and the United States, the French President was able to move the situation to the top of the agenda at a meeting of the G7 Group of Nations, eventually causing the Bolsonaro Government to make concessions and agree to send 44 000 troops to the Amazon Basin to fight the fires, in return for US$22 million in aid from the G7 nations to pay for fire-fighting planes, of which Brazil currently only has two.

A fire burning in the Brazilian Amazon. Getty Images.

While the deployment of troops to fight the fires has been seen as an improvement to the situation internationally, it has been viewed with some suspicion by communities living within the region, many of whom recall Bolsonaro made pledges to support the expansion of logging and agriculture in the Amazon, and fear that the troops could easily be used against political opponents in the region. The French Government has also offered to send troops to the region, though it is unclear if this offer will be accepted.

A burning Palm in the Brazilian Amazon. WWF.

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Scinax onca: A new species of Treefrog from Brazil.

Treefrogs of the genus Scinax are found from from Mexico in the North to central Argentina and Uruguay in the South. Over 70 species of this genus have been described,including 28 species from Amazonia, making it one of the largest genera of Treefrogs, with many undescribed species still thought to be present in less well explored areas. One such area is the Purus-Madeira Interfluve (area between the Purus and Madiera rivers, both tributaries of the Amazon), of Amazonas State in Brazil, where seven putative undescribed species are thought to be present. This area is currently crossed by an abandoned section of highway, though there have been recent plans to redevelop this road, raising concerns about logging and habitat loss, a major cause of species decline and loss for a variety of groups, including Treefrogs.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 4 October 2017, Miquéias Ferrão of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Jiří Moravec of the Department of Zoology at the National Museum in Prague, Rafael de Fraga, also of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Alexandre Pinheiro de Almeida of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Igor Luis Kaefer of the Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, also at the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, and Albertina Pimentel Lima of the Coordenação de Biodiversidade at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, describe a new species of Scinax from the middle to southern part of the Purus-Madeira Interfluve.

The new species is named Scinax onca, where 'onca' refers to the Jaguar, Pantera onca, which was encountered numerous times during fieldwork in the Purus-Madeira Interfluve, and to the blotchy pattern of the species. Females of the species are larger than the males, reaching 35.5−40.4 mm, compared to 31.3−34.5 mm, and are variable in colouration, though generally brown and blotchy, and in addition are capable of changing colour to some extent, generally becoming darker and more blotchy when disturbed.

Colour in life of Scinax onca from the Purus-Madeira Interfluve, Brazilian Amazonia. (A)–(B), adult male from the kilometre 350 of the BR-319 highway, State of Amazonas, (C)–(D) adult female from municipality of Porto Velho, State of Rondônia, (E)–(F) adult female from the Floresta Estadual Tapauá Reserve, municipality of Tapauá, State of Amazonas. Photographs (A)–(D) and (F) were taken after transport of the specimens to the camp, while the image of (E) was taken immediately in the field. Ferrão et al. (2017).

The species was found at four localities, two in areas of closed forest with emergent trees (taller trees that rise above the tree canopy) in the central part of the Interfluve and two areas of open lowland rainforest with frequent Palm Trees in the southern part. They were encountered near temporary ponds following periods of heavy rain, where the males gathered on nearby plants to sing. Tadpoles of the species are ovoid in dorsal view, triangular in lateral view, and silvery-green in colour with large dark brown spots.

 Tadpole of Scinax onca from the middle Purus-Madeira Interfluve. Specimen collected at kilometre 350 of the BR-319 highway, municipality of Beruri, State of Amazonas, Brazil. From top to bottom: dorsal, ventral, and lateral views of preserved tadpole in developmental Stage 37. Scale bar 5 mm. Ferrão et al. (2017).

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