Review Article Mediterranean Marine Science Indexed in WoS (Web of Science, ISI Thomson) and SCOPUS The journal is available on line at http://www.medit-mar-sc.net DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/mms.1064 Updated review of marine alien species and other ‘newcomers’ recorded from the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean) J. EVANS, J. BARBARA and P.J. SCHEMBRI Department of Biology, University of Malta, Msida MSD2080, Malta Corresponding author:
[email protected] Handling Editor: Argyro Zenetos Received: 17 September 2014; Accepted: 19 January 2015; Published on line: 4 March 2015 Abstract An updated review of marine alien species and other ‘newcomers’ recorded from the Maltese Islands is presented on account of new records and amendments to a previous review in 2007. Species were classified according to their establishment status (‘Questionable’, ‘Casual’, ‘Established’, ‘Invasive’) and origin (‘Alien’, ‘Range expansion’, ‘Cryptogenic’). A total of 31 spe- cies were added to the inventory, while 6 species have been removed, bringing the total number of species to 73. Of these, 66 are considered to be aliens (or putative aliens but with uncertain origin) with the remaining 7 resulting from range expansion. Six records are considered to be questionable and hence unverified. For verified records, the dominant taxonomic groups are Mollusca (represented by 21 species) and Actinopterygii (15 species), followed by Crustacea (8 species) and Rhodophyta (7 species). Eight of these species (aliens: Caulerpa cylindracea, Lophocladia lallemandi, Womersleyella setacea, Brachidontes pharaonis, Percnon gibbesi, Fistularia commersonii, Siganus luridus; range extender: Sphoeroides pachygaster) are considered to be invasive. The introduction pathway for 30 species is unknown.