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.

Wanasayansi wamegundua tu wanyama wawili ambao hawakuwahi kupewa jina kabla. Mtaje rafiki anayefikiri kila spishi duniani tayari imegunduliwa. Katika milima ya Montenegro, watafiti waliokuwa wakichunguza miamba ya chokaa walipata konokono wawili wadogo ambao walibainika kuwa wapya kabisa kwa sayansi.

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.

Kila konokono ana upana wa ukucha mmoja hivi na hubeba kaka dogo lenye umbo la koni. Badala ya kifuniko rahisi, kila mmoja ana kizio cha mviringo kwenye mkia wake kinachofanya kazi kama mlango, kikifunga kaka mara konokono anapojiingiza ndani. Spishi moja kati ya hizo mbili inaishi tu katika korongo jembamba ambalo bwawa lililopangwa linaweza kulifurika kabla wanasayansi hawajamaliza kuchunguza ni nini kingine kinachoishi humo.

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.

Timu hiyo iliwapa konokono hao majina ya sehemu walikopatikana, mmoja akaitwa jina la korongo hilo na mwingine jina la uwanda mrefu ulio karibu. Watafiti wanasema ugunduzi huo unaonyesha kuwa hata katika sehemu za Ulaya zilizoshachorwa vizuri kwenye ramani, spishi nzima bado zinaweza kuwa zikisubiri, bila majina, juu ya mwamba mmoja tu.