Two Brand New Animals, Each the Size of a Fingernail

Scientists just discovered two animals nobody had ever named. Tag a friend who thinks every species on Earth has already been found. In the mountains of Montenegro, researchers searching limestone cliffs found two tiny snails that turned out to be completely new to science.

Forskere har netop opdaget to dyr som ingen nogensinde har navngivet. Tag en ven der tror alle arter på Jorden allerede er fundet. I bjergene i Montenegro fandt forskere, der undersøgte kalkstensklipper, to bittesmå snegle som viste sig at være helt nye for videnskaben.

Each snail measures about the width of a fingernail and carries a small cone-shaped shell. Instead of a simple flap, each one has a round disk on its tail that works like a door, sealing the shell shut the moment the snail pulls inside. One of the two species lives only in a narrow canyon that a planned dam could flood before scientists finish studying what else lives there.

Hver snegl måler omtrent bredden af en negl og bærer et lille keglet skal. I stedet for en simpel flap har hver af dem en rund skive på halen der fungerer som en dør og forsegler skallen i det øjeblik sneglen trækker sig ind. Den ene af de to arter lever kun i en smal kløft som en planlagt dæmning kunne oversvømme, før forskerne når at studere hvad ellers der lever der.

The team named the snails after the places where they were found, one after the canyon and one after a high plateau nearby. Researchers say the discovery shows that even in well-mapped parts of Europe, whole species can still be waiting, unnamed, on a single cliff.

Holdet opkaldte sneglene efter de steder hvor de blev fundet, den ene efter kløften og den anden efter et højt plateau i nærheden. Forskerne siger opdagelsen viser at selv i veludforskede dele af Europa kan hele arter stadig vente, unavngivne, på en enkelt klippe.