The first confirmed record is reported concerning established colonies of the bryozoan italic Alcyonidium verrilli /italic outside of the species’ native range in the Northeast USA (Northwest Atlantic). Two specimens collected from the Port of Lyttelton (Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, South Island, Aotearoa New Zealand) have been determined as italic A. verrilli /italic by genetic and histological analysis. The presence of gametogenesis indicates that the species actively breeds in the austral winter, conforming to data on winter breeding and colony growth in the Atlantic. Owing to the difficulty of species-level identification within the genus italic Alcyonidium /italic, it is likely that italic A. verrilli /italic has been overlooked elsewhere outside of its native range. This is the ninth species of the genus, and the first genetically confirmed alien italic Alcyonidium /italic species, to be recorded in New Zealand.
Spong et al. (Fri,) studied this question.