Tennis Star Novak Djokovic Gets New Species Named After Him

Researchers have named a newly discovered snail species after Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic. Just like the athlete, the new aquatic snail species is also quite special.

Novak Djokovic made tennis history last month when he set a record for spending 311 weeks at the top spot – the most for any player on the ATP Tour. Now, he also has a species named after him.

In a new study, published in the journal Subterranean Biology, a team of researchers has described an aquatic snail species that they named after Djokovic. Called Travunijana djokovici (T. djokovici), it has a "milky white shell" and belongs to a family of snails that live in fresh or brackish water, Pensoft Publishers explained in a blog.

But what made the species so special that the researchers named it after the tennis star?

The genus Travunijana is known to be common in the Trebišnjica River Basin in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Records show that its distribution is only limited to that area and nearby Neretva Basin. They are considered to be relatively isolated, the researchers explained.

However, they found the T. djokovici in a karstic spring close to the capital of Montenegro in 2019, the first in the genus to be discovered in the Skadar lake basin (Drin River System), Pensoft noted.

Its discovery in the Skadar lake basin, which is some 60 kilometers (37.28 miles) south from the genus' known main distribution range, suggests that they may have a wider distribution than previously known, the researchers said. It also supports the possibility that there may be a subterranean route between the Trebišnjica and the Drin drainages through which endemic subterranean fauna pass, the researchers said.

"The new species is named after Novak Djokovic a famous Serbian tennis player to acknowledge his inspiring enthusiasm and energy," the researchers wrote.

"To discover some of the world's rarest animals that inhabit the unique underground habitats of the Dinaric karst, to reach inaccessible cave and spring habitats and for the restless work during processing of the collected material, you need Novak's energy and enthusiasm," they added, according to Pensoft.

So far, the species is considered "Vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List because of their small distribution.

"Number of known locations fewer than 5 and AOO (area of occupancy) smaller than 20 km2," the researchers wrote.

The subterranean locations where they reside also face threats, including "human-driven and environmental changes," the researchers said, noting that such locations are also often overlooked when it comes to conservation efforts.