Secret worlds in the Amazon of Europe!

The future 5-country biosphere reserve Mur-Drava-Danube is home to a multitude of different, partly endangered animal and plant species. Every now and then a new one joins them, just as the snail species Paladilhiopsis pallgergelyi in June. This snail, only around 2 mm in size, is part of the secret world in the groundwater body of the Drava and its tributaries and was recently discovered by Hungarian malacologist András Varga and described in a recently published paper.

Apart from the fact that new species are relatively rarely discovered in Hungary (snails particularly rarely), its habitat makes this species special. Altough living specimens have not yet been found it presumably lives deep in the gravel riverbed of the Drava, at least according to the location where the empty shells have been washed out.
Because of its hidden life, it is not known exactly how large the population is, or whether there is any current threat to the species. In any case, it will certainly help if efforts are made to maintain the natural water conditions of the Drava valley and the natural morphology of the riverbed.