Discovery of new snail species bolster case for protecting Montenegro's biodiversity
Biodiversity
Mixed teams of scientists and citizens, including Leiden evolution biologist Menno Schilthuizen, have discovered two new snail species in northwestern Montenegro. The discovery underscores the region's importance for hidden biodiversity and the need for conservation.
The team discovered two new additions to the European snail fauna. The elegant snails, which do not yet have English names, have conical shells of around 6 mm long and live on limestone rocks, where they graze algae and lichens. Unlike most land snails, they do not carry their eyes on the end of eye-stalks, but on the sides of their head. And their shells come with a circular disk stuck to the animal’s tail that can close off the shell like a door.
The research into the genus Cochlostoma in the Balkans is part of a wider project in which Velthuizen and his colleagues study the subtle variations in shell shape among these animals. ‘It is actually quite surprising that so many different species exist in this small area without this translating into clearly visible external differences’, he says. ‘The species differ mainly in their internal reproductive organs and DNA, and much less in their appearance than one might expect.’
Scientific expeditions for researchers and the general public alike
The snails were discovered by the teams of Taxon Expeditions, co-founded by Schilthuizen, which run real scientific expeditions that anyone can join. Between 2018 - 2025, expeditions in Montenegro were organised as a collaboration of Taxon Expeditions, the non-profit Taxon Foundation, and local partners from the Montenegrin Ecologists Society. ‘I was amazed that it is still possible to discover new animal species in Europe,’ says musician Janine Buisman from The Netherlands, who joined one of the expeditions and co-authored the paper.
Hidden biodiversity in the mountains of Montenegro
Mixed teams of international researchers, citizen scientists, local students, and conservationists studied the biodiversity of Durmitor National Park and Komarnica Canyon. The new snails were found at several sites during fieldwork in the rugged mountainous terrain, but their novelty only became clear once they were dissected and genetically analysed in the field laboratory.
During a voting session at camp, the team decided to name the species after the localities in which they had been discovered: Cochlostoma dobrido, after the Dobri Do Plateau, which lies between the peaks of Durmitor National Park, and Cochlostoma komarnica, after the stunning but unprotected Komarnica Canyon, south of Durmitor.
Protecting a unique ecosystem
Biologist and co-author Jovana Đokić of the Montenegrin Ecologists Society (MES) explains that the rich biodiversity in the canyons, mountains, and gorges of this part of the Balkans is still largely unexplored and undiscovered. ‘It is all the more worrying that the Komarnica Canyon is targeted to be flooded by a hydropower dam and reservoir. This will destroy this wild river canyon and all the biodiversity in it, including many species still unknown to science,’ she says.
Because of these threats, Komarnica Canyon has become a focus for structured biodiversity surveys, part of an effort to build a science-based case for its conservation. That is why MES is calling for the canyon to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Durmitor and for the hydropower project's plans to be scrapped. ‘Hydropower is neither green nor sustainable energy when it destroys a unique ecosystem like this,’ says Đokić.
Scientific article:
Schilthuizen M, Boomsma R, Faes S, Jousma M, Buisman J, Lankenau D-H, Kountouras S, van den Broek M, Hemelaar EM, Noomen J, de Vries R, Lopatriello G, Limongi AR, Maestri S, Kamchev P, van Manen S, Khalik MZ, Delledonne M, Đokić J, Mićanović A, Popović J, Njunjić I, Zallot E (2026) Two new Cochlostoma species from the Durmitor and Komarnica regions of northern Montenegro (Caenogastropoda, Cochlostomatidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 14: e196955.