New species from Croatia

New species of snail which has pretty semi-transparent shell found at a depth of 914 meters in a cave in Croatia. A group of scientists from the Croatian Society Biospeleogical find the animal with latin names Zospeum tholussum in Lukina Jama-Trojama cave, one of the deepest caves in the world.

The findings were published in the Biology Subterranian journal, on September 10, 2013 issue. Initially, the team collected all the animals specimens that are found in all regions to the cave, which is located in the western part of Croatia. In a number of loopholes, many newly discovered species, including the live sign of snails, which marked by the found of two empty shells in the cave gap.

The cave-dwelling snail Zospeum tholussum. (Picture from: http://www.sci-news.com/)

The scientists presented the elegant snail to Alexander Weigand, a taxonomists from Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. He sure is the newest of snail species that have not been found before, but related to existing species. Weigand explains the animal movement is slower than other types of snails. "They just crept a few millimeters or centimeters in a week with the movement in a circle," he said.

The new snail completely lacks eyes and shell pigmentation. Neither would serve a purpose in the complete darkness of the cave. (Picture from: http://earthsky.org/)

This snail does not have a complete eye, and their shells have no pigment. The two physical characteristics thought to be the result of the evolution of animals living in the cave of darkness. Above ground, the pigmentation of the snail camouflaged by absorbing the sun's heat.

Weigand also suspect the snails live in water, that the flow into the cave. The possibility of these animals live in the bodies of animals that enter the cave, such as bats, and crickets, to get from one place to another more efficiently, said Weigand further.

Lukina Jama-Trojama is the deepest cave in Croatia, including in the vertical cave category and has a depth of 1,392 meters. The unique cave ecology because it consists of three micro-climates. The cave's extreme conditions is an attraction for scientists to investigate it. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | SATWIKA MOVEMENTI | KORAN TEMPO 4347]

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