Two Species Nobody Had Named, Found on a Cliff Face

Scientists have identified two animals never before named. In the mountains of Montenegro, researchers combing limestone cliffs came across two minuscule snails that turned out, on inspection, to be new to science.

Znanstvenici su identificirali dvije životinje koje nikada prije nisu bile imenovane. U planinama Crne Gore, istraživači koji su pretraživali vapnenačke litice naišli su na dva sićušna puža koja su se, nakon pregleda, pokazala novima za znanost.

Each snail measures roughly the width of a fingernail and carries a small, cone-shaped shell built for a life spent wedged into narrow cracks in the rock. Rather than a simple flap, each one has a round disk on its tail that functions like a tiny door, sealing the shell shut the instant the animal withdraws inside. One of the two species survives only within a single narrow canyon that a planned dam could submerge before researchers finish cataloguing whatever else lives there, unseen, on the same cliffs.

Svaki je puž otprilike širine nokta i nosi malu, stožastu ljušturu prilagođenu životu provedenom uglavljenom u uskim pukotinama stijene. Umjesto obične zaklopke, svaki od njih na repu ima okrugli disk koji djeluje poput sićušnih vrata, zatvarajući ljušturu čim se životinja povuče unutra. Jedna od te dvije vrste opstaje samo unutar jednog uskog kanjona koji bi planirana brana mogla potopiti prije nego što istraživači dovrše popisivanje svega ostalog što ondje živi, neviđeno, na istim liticama.

The team named the two snails after the very places where they were found: one after the canyon itself, the other after a nearby high plateau. Researchers note that the discovery shows how, even in well-mapped corners of Europe, whole species can still be waiting, unnamed, on a single cliff face.

Tim je oba puža nazvao prema samim mjestima na kojima su pronađeni: jednog prema samom kanjonu, drugog prema obližnjoj visokoj visoravni. Istraživači napominju da otkriće pokazuje kako, čak i u dobro istraženim kutovima Europe, cijele vrste još uvijek mogu čekati, neimenovane, na jednoj jedinoj litici.