An alien species or another perspective to the freshwater gobies puzzle: a new finding in Lake Prespa

Here we present a discovery of a new fish from the family Gobiidae in Lake Prespa, which is known as a European hotspot for biodiversity and endemism. This is the first detection of a fish species from this family, not only regarding this lake but also in the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia in general. The close examination of the recorded specimens revealed the presence of perianal organ surrounding the anus. This unique organ and various other observed morphometric and phenotypic characteristics point out to the genus Economidichthys. The two known fish species from this genus are currently considered endemic only to the rivers and lakes of western Greece. This new finding could be an evidence of alien species introduced in this lake, or an evidence of native species that are not recorded yet because of their characteristic life habits. Either way, this is a very important finding for the taxonomy and biogeographical distribution of the freshwater gobies in the Balkans.

Citizenship, Ethnicity, History, Nation, Region, and the Prespa Agreement of June 2018 between Macedonia and Greece

The agreement reached at Lake Prespa on 17 June 2018 between Greece and Macedonia should be welcomed, insofar as it promises to end the Greek blockade—in any case unnecessary—of Macedonia’s accession to the European Union and to NATO. Yet conceptually, the author argues, the agreement’s text is explosive, having been crafted to fundamentally confirm and consolidate a radical ‘otherness’ of the two parties involved (that is, Greece and Macedonia), encompassing their populations and histories. Any expert tasked with supervising the re-writing of history textbooks in the spirit of this agreement, as stipulated therein, will quickly find it impossible to reconcile the definitions and concepts put forth there with the methodological and theoretical knowledge about the need to de-essentialize and de-construct ‘ethnicity’, ‘history’, ‘culture’, ‘nation’, etc. This knowledge has been the basic standard in international scholarly debates over at least the last thirty years.

A synopsis of the Centaurea soskae and triniifolia group (Centaurea sect. Acrolophus) in the Prespa area and Northern Pindos

A synopsis of the Centaurea soskae and triniifolia group (C. sect. Acrolophus, Asteraceae) is presented. Seven taxa are recognized in the Lake Prespa area of Albania, Greece, FYR Macedonia, and the nearby mountain ranges of Galičica-Mali i Thatë and Pelister-Varnous, including an outlier in the prefecture of Grevena, N Pindos, Greece. The variation in C. soskae was studied, leading to the description of two new subspecies, subsp. albida (endemic to Albania) and subsp. aetiensis (endemic to N Pindos). Centaurea tomorosii is treated as a species separate from C. soskae, and C. galicicae as a species distinct from C. triniifolia. The lectotypification of C. campylacme and its inclusion as a subspecies in C. triniifolia is proposed. In addition, C. shumkana is described as a new species, endemic to SE Albania. The distribution of the taxa is indicated in two maps.

First report of Atyaephyra thyamisensis Christodoulou, Antoniou, Magoulas & Koukouras, 2012 (Decapoda, Caridea, Atyidae) from Albania and the Republic of Macedonia confirmed by DNA barcodes

The genus Atyaephyra de Brito Capello, 1867 consists of seven species, which are distributed in Europe, Asia Minor and northern Africa. Four of them occur on the Balkan Peninsula, which is known as one of the global diversity and endemism hotspots for freshwater fauna. Atyaephyra thyamisensis Christodoulou, Antoniou, Magoulas & Koukouras, 2012 has been known from Greek mainland and is considered as endemic to the Ionian region. Herewith we report the first finding of this species from the Adriatic region, i.e., Albania and Republic of Macedonia, including the ancient Lake Prespa, and we provide new localities from Greece. Given the subtle morphological features differing this species from other congeners, we support our findings with DNA barcodes.