Kosovar biologist Halil Ibrahimi believes the restrictions imposed by the pandemic have a positive side as he was able to complete his research, raise public awareness of river basin pollution and call an insect he discovered coronavirus.
Ibrahimi, 44, has spent years researching a Tricopter bug found in Prokletije Mountains National Park in western Kosovo. The species now bears the name Potamophylax coronavirus.
As a professor at the Faculty of Science at the University of Pristina, Ibrahimi collected the species, which turned out to be endemic to the national park 120 kilometers west of Pristina, and found it to be very different from the other species in the Balkans.
It is much smaller and its habitat is different as it is 2000 meters above sea level.
The name he had chosen for the species this month, he announced in a scientific journal this month.
“The coronavirus was at its most vivid when the species was discovered”, He said.
In the course of his research, Ibrahimi also noted that the Lumbardhi i Deçanit River, where the species was found, has seriously deteriorated in recent years due to the construction of a hydroelectric power station.