Republic of Macedonia, Nidzhe Mountains, Belo Grotlo peak, 40°59'17.9'N, 21°49'10.7'E, 2164 m a.s.l., limestone, under stones, 07. June 2010, leg. I. K. Dedov (43 specimens, collected alive, dried). Until now, the new species is known only from the type locality.

holotype SMF 336340; paratypes: SMF 336341/2 specimens, NMNHS/ 2 specimens, DED/MK 635/38 specimens.

The new species differs from the two subspecies of Euxinella radikae – Euxinella radikae radikae and Euxinella radikae hristovskii - by occasional presence of a short basalis and the long subcolumellaris, which is visible from outside the aperture. Euxinella alpinella sp. n. differs from Euxinella subaii by its pale or missing palatal callus, the much shorter or missing basalis, and its shorter palatal plicaes.

Description of type series: shell small, spindle-shaped; shell colour brownish; suture deep; teleoconch striated, finely ribbed on the last whorls of the shell; neck with pronounced basal keel; aperture pear-shaped, in some specimens a slight palatal thickening present situated in parallel to its edge; well developed basal canal, often with a short basalis on its left margin; superior lamella connected with spiralis through a slight depression in the contact zone (or both situated very close, not connected); inferior lamella (columellaris) well developed running steeply nearby parietal side; lunella in dorsal position, sometimes reduced to a pale thickening or short straight plica; principal plica well developed; upper palatalis present, very short; subcolumellar lamella long and visible from outside the aperture, often forming part of the right margin of the basal canal; clausilium partly visible from outside the aperture, oval-orthogonal, distally with a weak edge.

This species is named “alpinella” because of its isolated type locality in the alpine area.

Euxinella alpinella sp. n. occurs in open alpine terrains on limestone, up to 2000 m a.s.l. Until now, the species is known only from its type locality, Nidzhe Mountains, in the southern part of the Republic of Macedonia.

This species occurs on rocky alpine meadows above the timber line, on limestone rocks and in their crevices and under stones.

Euxinella alpinella sp. n. isnowthe fourth representative of the genus Euxinella. It shows shell morphological characters more similar to the forest species Euxinella subaii, than to the petrophilous species Euxinella radikae (trace of palatal callus, long subcolumellar lamella, basalis present). In Euxinella radikae, thesubcolumellaris ends at the level of the lunellar system, which this forms part of the definition of the genus (see also Dedov and Neubert 2009). However, Euxinella alpinella sp. n. is the second species which shows differences in this character. As an „alpine form“ (for this term cf. Nordsieck 2008), Euxinella alpinella sp. n. shows the highest shell morphological variation among all species of the genus Euxinella (different level of reduction of the clausilium aparatus – present or missing of basalis, upper palatal plicae and palatal callus; different intensity of development of lunella – pale thickening or short straight plicae; connected or separated lamella superior and spiralis). The morphological similarity between Euxinella subaii and Euxinella alpinella indicates some affinities between both taxa, and their particular distribution ranges, the Kozhuf and Nidzhe mountain, are quite close. Probably, both species originate from a parent taxon whose populations have been isolated ecologically (Euxinella subaii in deciduous forests, Euxinella alpinella sp. n. in alpine mountain meadows and on as well as under rocks). A similar distribution pattern of related species from the Kozhuf and Nidzhe Mountains can even be observed in more mobile organisms such as Tapinopterus heyrovskii Jedlicka, 1939 and Tapinopterus purkynei Jedlicka, 1928 (Coleoptera: Carabidae), and Dorcadion heyrovskii Breuning, 1943and Dorcadion purkynei Heirovsky, 1925 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) (Hristovski pers. comm.).

Republic of Macedonia, Baba (= Pelister) Mountains near Kopanke hut, 41°01'59.7'N, 21°13'09.0'E, 1639 m a.s.l., Pinus peuce forestecotone, under logs of dead wood and fallen trunks, 03. September 2002, leg. S. Lazarov, (2 empty shells); from the same site, 16. June 2009, leg. I. K. Dedov (12 specimens, collected alive, dried).

Republic of Macedonia, Pelister (= Baba) Mountains, Palisnopje area, 1450 m a.s.l., Pinus peuce forestecotone, under logs and fallen trunks, 16. June 2009, leg. T. Mitev, (2 empty shells).

holotype SMF 336343, paratypes (n = 13 specimens) SMF 336344/2 specimens; NMNHS/2 specimens; DED/MK 453/2 specimens; DED/MK 636/9 specimens; Pelister Mountains, Palisnopje area, 1450 m. a.s.l., DED/MK637/2 specimens).

This species differs from Vestia roschitzi (Brancsik, 1890) and Vestia ranojevici (Pavlovic, 1912) by the wide spiral turn of its inferior lamella; from Vestia elata (Rossmassler, 1836), Vestia gulo (E. Bielz, 1859) and Vestia turgida (Rossmassler, 1836) by the missing lunella.

shell relatively small, spindle shaped, yellow-brownish coloured; whorls 8.5–9.5, including 2–2.5 smooth protoconch whorls; teleoconch ribbed (R = 38–54); aperture oval pear-shaped with a whitish, weekly reflected lip; a pale palatal callus present in some specimens; basal canal and keel missing; sinulus wide, not inclined to the shell axis; superior lamella connected with spiralis or close to it; inferior lamella turning widely-spirally; lunella and basalis missing; principal and upper palatal plica usually present; principal plica very short to about 1/3 of the last whorl; upper palatal plica short or missing; clausilium plate varying from hook-shaped in its end as is typical for Vestia, or with a weak hook and thin clausilium plate.

This species is named after the Bulgarian arachnologist Dr. Stoyan Lazarov-Panagyrsky, B. A. S., Institute of Zoology, who was the first to collect this species.

Vestia lazarovii sp. n. is currently only known from two sites at 1450 and 1650 m a.s.l. from the Pelister (= Baba) Mountains, Republic of Macedonia.

This species occurs in the Pinus peuce forest ecotone, under logs of dead wood near Kopanke hut, as well as in the Pinus peuce forest ecotone in the Palisnopje area, under logs and fallen trunks.

The first species of genus Vestia to bereported from Macedonia (Urbanski 1960) was Vestia ranojevici. Nordsieck (1974) reported it from the Osogovo Mountains, Kalin Kamen area, 1560 m a.s.l., Kriva Palanka district, near to the border with Bulgaria. Vestia lazarovii sp. n. is the second representative of the genus from the Republic of Macedonia and occurs relatively high up in the mountains (in coniferous forests and its ecotone) and is characterized by a quite strong reduction of the clausilium apparatus (reduced lunella, short principal and short or missing upper palatal plicae, missing basalis, somethimes very fine and thin clausilium plate with weakly developed hook at its end). A connection between superior and spiral lamellae is typical for the genus Vestia, so the specimens with disconnected superior and spiral lamellae could be also interpreted as showing initial reduction in this part of the clausilium apparatus.