BioInvasions Records (2019) Volume 8, Issue 2: 242–251 CORRECTED PROOF Rapid Communication The arrival of the invasive tubeworm Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel, 1923) (Annelida: Serpulidae) to the Azores, possibly via migratory birds Ana C. Costa1,*, Manuela I. Parente1 and António M. de Frias Martins2 1CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores, Universidade dos Açores, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Portugal 2Sociedade Afonso Chaves, Apartado 258, 9501-903 Ponta Delgada, Portugal *Corresponding author E-mail:
[email protected] Citation: Costa AC, Parente MI, de Frias Martins AM (2019) The arrival of the Abstract invasive tubeworm Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel, 1923) (Annelida: The non-indigenous polychaete Ficopomatus enigmaticus, also known as the Serpulidae) to the Azores, possibly via Australian tube worm, was recorded from Paul da Praia da Vitória (Praia da Vitória migratory birds. BioInvasions Records Marsh), Terceira island (Azores) in July 2016. This is the first record of this species 8(2): 242–251, https://doi.org/10.3391/bir. on the Atlantic islands of the Macaronesia biogeographical region. At present, 2019.8.2.05 F. enigmaticus is exclusively in the lagoon of Paul da Praia where it is established Received: 14 December 2017 and exhibits invasive behaviour. To explain the arrival of F. enigmaticus in this Accepted: 5 November 2018 wetland system, which is not directly connected to the sea, we hypothesize natural Published: 10 April 2019 mediated dispersal through migratory bird phoresy. This vector is crucial to Handling editor: Melih Ertan Çinar consider in terms of risk assessments as this species spreads to other ecologically Thematic editor: Amy Fowler fragile areas.