This study examines cave-dwelling planariids in Croatia, revealing multiple genera, increased diversity, and independent cave colonization events, highlighting convergent evolution of cave traits.

Ecology and Evolution · Oct 28, 2026Peer-reviewedZoology

Sustained darkness reveals rapid phenotypic accommodation and loss of plasticity in cavefish evolution

Laura Guerrero Pena, Marina Horvatiček, Mateo Čupić, Marko Lukić, Tin Rožman, Helena Bilandžija

This study shows that sustained darkness rapidly modifies phenotypic plasticity in cavefish, reducing maladaptive traits and stabilizing adaptive ones across generations.

bioRxiv · Apr 29, 2026 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology

An integrative taxonomic approach reveals unexplored diversity in Croatian planarians

Miquel Vila‐Farré, Jeremias N. Brand, Tobias Boothe, Maren Brockmeyer, Fruzsina Ficze-Schmidt, Markus A. Grohme, Uri Weill, Kasper H. Kluiver, Ludwik Gąsiorowski, Lucija Kauf, Yuliia Kanana, Helena Bilandžija, Marta Riutort, Jochen Christian Rink

Degenerate COI primers combined with histology, karyology and transcriptomics raise the known Croatian freshwater planarian species from eight to sixteen and describe Dendrocoelum pigmentatum sp. nov.

Frontiers in Zoology · Mar 16, 2026Peer-reviewedZoology✦ In-depth digest

Environmental hypoxia controls the evolution of cavefish heart asymmetry

Mandy Ng, Helena Bilandžija, William R. Jeffery

This study shows that hypoxia induces left-looping heart development in surface fish, mimicking cavefish traits, and reveals a mechanistic link between hypoxia and evolutionary changes in heart asymmetry.

bioRxiv · Jan 30, 2026 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology

Analysis of multi-trait evolution across independently evolved cavefish populations reveals shared and independent evolution of suites of cave-associated traits

Stefan Choy, Maya S. Enriquez, Rianna Ambosie, Aubrey E. Manning, Briley F. Mullin, Roberto Rodríguez‐Morales, Jennah Abdelaziz, Sarah Jacobson, Evan Lloyd, Alli Kimmel, Solomia Lapko, Isabel Carino-Bazan, Helena Bilandžija, Alex C. Keene, Erik R. Duboué, , Johanna E. Kowalko

The paper examines multi-trait evolution in cavefish, finding shared and distinct genetic mechanisms and evidence for pleiotropy or linkage in trait evolution.

bioRxiv · Oct 22, 2025 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology

A common mechanism and multiple advantages of pigment loss underlie the convergent evolution of albinism in cave animals

Helena Bilandžija, Kenneth J. Renner, Helena Ćetković, William R. Jeffery

This study identifies a common mechanism for albinism in cave animals, showing that blocking melanin synthesis early in the pathway provides multiple adaptive advantages.

bioRxiv · Jul 14, 2025 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology

The European Reference Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equitable biodiversity genomics

Ann M. Mc Cartney, Giulio Formenti, Alice Mouton, Diego N. De Panis, Luísa S. Marins, Henrique G. Leitão, Genevieve Diedericks, Joseph Kirangwa, Marco Morselli, Judit Salces-Ortiz, Nuria Escudero, Alessio Iannucci, Chiara Natali, Hannes Svardal, Rosa Fernández, , Zophonías Oddur Jónsson

The paper describes the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) pilot project, which tests a decentralized model for producing high-quality reference genomes across 98 European species.

npj Biodiversity · Sep 17, 2024Peer-reviewedGenomics