User:Obsidian Soul/Erpobdella mestrovi

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Erpobdella mestrovi, commonly known as the Velebit leech, is a species of cave-dwelling leeches from the family Erpobdellidae.

Discovery
The first specimens of Velebit leeches were discovered during a caving expedition led by Branko Jalžić from July 30 to August 13, 1994 into the cave Lukina jama of the Velebit mountains of Croatia. Lukina jama is part of a cave system linked with another nearby cave entrance, Trojama. The Lukina jama–Trojama cave system is the deepest in Croatia and one of the top twenty deepest caves in the world at a total measured depth of 1421 m, including submerged passages. The leeches were first encountered at a depth of about 1320 m from the entrance of Lukina jama by Ana Sutlović Bakšić, Tanja Bizjak, and Branko Jalžić.