12 of the new species were found in Serbia
Some of the biggest discoveries are often accidentally found.
Penicillin is a typical example. It is among the most widely-used antibiotics across the globe, and was discovered by mistake when Alexander Fleming returned from vacation to find that a petri dish he’d left on his desk had began growing mold. This accidental discovery was created from unintended contamination.
And a similar kind of situation happened to a ground of researchers who set out to Serbia to hunt for known types of Vitrea snails – but they ended up discovering a completely new species of the gastropods all together.
According to the report from Miami Herald, a scientist (who, from the looks of photos, is definitely not claustrophobic), climbed down into an underground cavern of Mount Devica in the hopes of finding some Vitrea snails, when he saw a ‘large’ creature crawling across a moist stone.
Devica is about 240km away from Serbia’s capital city of Belgrade.
As the snails they were looking for are described as being ‘relatively small and usually difficult to find’, it was understandable that the researcher in question was surprised to come across a much larger snail.
Since then, this new snail has been named Vitrea virgo – also known as the Mount Devica crystal snail.
Vitrea snails can range in size from 2.2–2.6 mm to 1.4–2.1 x 3–4 mm, but the newly found species was over 5 mm in width.
They have ‘translucent’ and ‘densely coiled’ shells that, while wide, their underside is ‘almost flat’.
The findings were shared in a study published on May 9.
Part of it explains: “The new species is found in a shallow, natural pit (a small underground cavern between boulders) several meters deep in a limestone habitat.
“Live animals crawled on and under numerous wet rocks deeper in the pit.”
It adds: “They were only found in the darker parts of the pit.”
The cavern was among 30 sites researchers visited between 2021 and 2023 while surveying wildlife.
Elsewhere, Vitrea virgo was hailed as ‘one of the largest representatives of the genus Vitrea in Serbia’.
As to where it got its name from, ‘Devica’ means ‘a virgin’ in Serbian, so the new species was named after the corresponding Latin word, ‘virgo’, Miami Herald explained.
Additionally, the study stated that Vitrea pygmaea – an already known genus of Vitrea – was found for the first time for the territory of Serbia.
The species typically inhabits the likes of Turkmenistan, Northern Iran, Iraq-Kurdistan, Caucasus region, Crimea, Turkey, and Bulgaria.
