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.

Wanasayansi wamebaini wanyama wawili ambao hawajawahi kupewa jina hapo awali. Katika milima ya Montenegro, watafiti waliokuwa wakichunguza kwa makini majabali ya chokaa walikutana na konokono wawili wadogo mno ambao, baada ya uchunguzi, ilibainika kuwa wapya kwa sayansi.

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.

Kila konokono ana upana wa takriban kucha ya kidole na anabeba kaa dogo, lenye umbo la koni, lililojengwa kwa maisha ya kubanwa ndani ya nyufa nyembamba za mwamba. Badala ya kifuniko rahisi, kila mmoja ana kidiski cha duara mkiani mwake kinachofanya kazi kama mlango mdogo, kikifunga kaa hilo mara tu mnyama anapojirudisha ndani. Mojawapo ya spishi hizo mbili huishi tu ndani ya korongo moja jembamba ambalo bwawa lililopangwa linaweza kulizamisha kabla watafiti hawajamaliza kuorodhesha chochote kingine kinachoishi humo, bila kuonekana, katika majabali hayo hayo.

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.

Timu hiyo iliwapa konokono hao majina kulingana na mahali walipopatikana: mmoja kwa jina la korongo lenyewe, mwingine kwa jina la tambarare ya juu iliyo karibu. Watafiti wanaeleza kwamba ugunduzi huo unaonyesha jinsi, hata katika pembe za Ulaya zilizoramaniwa vizuri, spishi nzima bado zinaweza kusubiri, bila majina, ukingoni mwa jabali moja tu.