"Large" Creature And Possible New Species Discovered In Underground Cavern In Serbia

It’s often said that some of the greatest discoveries happen by sheer accident.

Take penicillin, for example. It’s one of the most widely-used antibiotics in the world today, and its discovery was a total fluke.

Alexander Fleming had just come back from a holiday when he noticed that a petri dish he left out was growing mold.

This unexpected mold growth led to the creation of penicillin from unintended contamination.

A similarly serendipitous event occurred with a group of researchers in Serbia.

They were on a quest to find known types of Vitrea snails but ended up discovering an entirely new species instead.

Researchers travelled to eastern Serbia to look for the snails. Krle/Getty Stock

One brave scientist, who clearly doesn’t suffer from claustrophobia based on the photos, ventured down into an underground cavern on Mount Devica, hoping to spot some Vitrea snails.

Instead, he stumbled upon a 'large' creature meandering across a damp stone, as reported by the Miami Herald.

Mount Devica, where this discovery took place, is about 240km away from Serbia’s capital, Belgrade.

The snails they originally sought are known to be 'relatively small and usually difficult to find,' which explains why the researcher was taken aback by the size of the snail he found.

In the context of the Vitrea genus, these snails are typically minute, and range in size from 2.2–2.6 mm to 1.4–2.1 x 3–4 mm.

The new species of snail have almost-translucent shells. Gojšina, Vesović, Ćurčić, Karan-Žnidaršič, Mitrović and Dedov

This new species, measuring over 5 mm in width, is considered 'large' relative to its typical counterparts, highlighting its uniqueness within the Vitrea genus.

This newly discovered snail has been named Vitrea virgo, or the Mount Devica crystal snail.

Their shells are 'translucent' and 'densely coiled,' and while they are wide, their underside is 'almost flat.'

The details of this discovery were published in a study on May 9.

The study describes the habitat: "The new species is found in a shallow, natural pit (a small underground cavern between boulders) several meters deep in a limestone habitat.

A researcher who climbed into a tiny pit made the discovery. Gojšina, Vesović, Ćurčić, Karan-Žnidaršič, Mitrović and Dedov

"Live animals crawled on and under numerous wet rocks deeper in the pit." 

It also noted that they were "only found in the darker parts of the pit."

This particular cavern was just one of 30 sites the researchers visited between 2021 and 2023 while surveying wildlife.

Moreover, Vitrea virgo has been described as 'one of the largest representatives of the genus Vitrea in Serbia.'

The name 'Devica,' which translates to 'a virgin' in Serbian, inspired the species' name, which is derived from the Latin 'virgo,' as the Miami Herald detailed.

Additionally, the study revealed that Vitrea pygmaea, another species from the Vitrea genus, was recorded for the first time in Serbia.

This species typically inhabits regions like Turkmenistan, Northern Iran, Iraq-Kurdistan, the Caucasus region, Crimea, Turkey, and Bulgaria.