Four new species of the genus Proteus (Amphibia: Proteidae)

Trontelj, Peter (author), Gorički, Špela (author), Kostanjšek, Rok (author), Zakšek, Valerija (author), Delić, Teo (author), Bressi, Nicola (author), Mauri, Edgardo (author), Lukić-Bilela, Lada (author), Jalžić, Branko (author), Recknagel, Hans (author)

The olm, or proteus, has long been treated as a single nominal species, Proteus anguinus Laurenti, 1768. Phylogenetic and population genetic research of the past two decades has revealed that there are in fact nine (9) distinct and mostly allopatric species. Five of them already have names made available by the original describer, Fitzinger in 1850 (P. carrarae, P. freyeri, P. haidingeri), and Sket and Arntzen in 1994 (P. parkelj). In this contribution we describe the remaining four new species – P. sketi from Istria (Croatia), P. bosniacus from Bosanska Krajina (Bosnia and Herzegovina), P. croaticus from Lika (Croatia) and P. scopolii from the subterranean basin of the Reka/Timavo River (Slovenia, Italy).

• Language: English
• Keywords: Proteus anguinus, species descriptions, phylogeny, Dinaric Karst, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 11-27
• Numbering: Vol. 28, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190722
• UDC: 59
• ISSN on article: 1854-3081
• DOI: 10.14720/ns.29865
• COBISS.SI-ID: 289870851
• Publication date in RUL: 06.11.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Natura Sloveniae : revija za terensko biologijo = journal of field biology
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani, Univerza v Ljubljani, Biotehniška fakulteta, Nacionalni inštitut za biologijo
• ISSN: 1854-3081
• COBISS.SI-ID: 221920000

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Štiri nove vrste rodu Proteus (Amphibia: Caudata: Proteidae)

Abstract

Močeril ali proteus je bil dolgo obravnavan kot ena sama nominalna vrsta, Proteus anguinus Laurenti, 1768. Filogenetske in populacijsko-genetske raziskave preteklih dveh desetletij so pokazale, da dejansko obstaja devet (9) ločenih in večinoma alopatričnih vrst. Pet od njih že ima veljavna imena, ki so jih uvedli prvotni opisovalec, Fitzinger leta 1850 (P. carrarae, P. freyeri, P. haidingeri), ter Sket in Arntzen leta 1994 (P. parkelj). V tem prispevku opisujemo preostale štiri nove vrste: P. sketi iz Istre (Hrvaška), P. bosniacus iz Bosanske krajine (Bosna in Hercegovina), P. croaticus iz Like (Hrvaška) in P. scopolii iz podzemnega porečja Reke/Timava (Slovenija, Italija).

• Keywords: Proteus anguinus, opisi vrst, filogenija, Dinarski kras, Italija, Slovenija, Hrvaška, Bosna in Hercegovina