‘Large’ creature and suspected 'new species' found lurking in ‘underground cavern’

Some of the biggest discoveries are often found by accident.

For example, penicillin, which is one of the most widely-used antibiotics across the globe, was discovered by mistake when Alexander Fleming returned from vacation to find that a petri dish he'd left on his desk had began growing mold. This accidental discovery was created from unintended contamination.

And a similar kind of situation happened to a ground of researchers who set out to Serbia to hunt for known types of Vitrea snails - but ended up discovering a completely new species of the gastropods all together.

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

A scientist (who, from the looks of photos, is definitely not claustrophobic), climbed down into an underground cavern of Mount Devica in the hopes of finding some Vitrea snails, when he saw a 'large' creature crawling across a moist stone, Miami Herald reported.

Devica is approximately 240km away from Serbia's capital city of Belgrade.

The snails they were looking for are described as being 'relatively small and usually difficult to find', so it was understandable that the researcher in question was surprised to come across a much larger snail.

This new snail has since been named Vitrea virgo - also known as the Mount Devica crystal snail.

Vitrea snails can range in size from 2.2–2.6 mm to 1.4–2.1 x 3–4 mm, but the newly found species was over 5 mm in width.

They have 'translucent' and 'densely coiled' shells that, while wide, their underside is 'almost flat'.

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

The findings were shared in a study, which was published on May 9.

Part of it explains: "The new species is found in a shallow, natural pit (a small underground cavern between boulders) several meters deep in a limestone habitat.

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

It adds: "They were only found in the darker parts of the pit."

The cavern was one of 30 sites researchers visited between 2021 and 2023 while surveying wildlife.

Elsewhere, Vitrea virgo was hailed as 'one of the largest representatives of the genus Vitrea in Serbia'.

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

As to where it got its name from, 'Devica' means 'a virgin' in Serbian, so the new species was named after the corresponding Latin word, 'virgo', Miami Herald explained.

The study also stated that Vitrea pygmaea - an already known genus of Vitrea - was found for the first time for the territory of Serbia.

The species typically inhabits the likes of Turkmenistan, Northern Iran, Iraq-Kurdistan, Caucasus region, Crimea, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

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