Abstract
The gold clam ( Corbicula fluminea) is a highly invasive freshwater mollusc, which was detected in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2023. Currently, C. fluminea has only been observed in the Waikato catchment, but there is significant concern it will spread across the country. There is an urgent need to identify suitable habitat for the species beyond the Waikato, given the high probability of spread. Here, we used a Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model to predict habitat suitability across Aotearoa for C. fluminea . The model was parametrised with 9,544 observations from across the species’ native and invaded ranges and seven climate, environmental and habitat variables associated with the species’ distribution. The highest risk area are mostly located in Te Ika‐a‐Māui (North Island), in particular, northern Waikato, Auckland, Northland, Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay and in Te Waipounamu (South Island) areas with the highest habitat suitability included Marlborough, North Canterbury and Christchurch. Our findings suggest there are many invadable areas beyond the Waikato and a strategy of containment and suppression of existing C. fluminea populations should now be a priority, given the difficulty of eradication once further spread has occurred and new populations are well established.