Invasion patterns inferred from cytochrome oxidase I sequences in three bryozoans, Bugula neritina, Watersipora subtorquata, and Watersipora arcuata

Abstract

Nucleotide variation in cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) was used to examine population structure in three invasive bryozoans: Bugula neritina (Linnaeus, 1758), Watersipora subtorquata (d'Orbigny, 1852), and W. arcuata (Banta, 1969). These species are found on ship hulls and have a short (≤ 2 days) larval phase. Samples were collected from 1998-2001 at multiple sites in Australia, and in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Hawaii, California, Curaçao, and England. B. neritina is known to include three cryptic species, including species Type S (Davidson and Haygood in Biol Bull 196:273-280, 1999) which occurs on the east and west coasts of the USA. One haplotype recorded previously in the USA, S1, wa..