In the UAE, the species is widespread in the Hajar Mountains, along the east coast, and opportunistically elsewhere, including along the Arabian Gulf coast and the offshore islands (Sakkir et al. 2017), within irrigated areas (Jongbloed et al. 2003). It is found in lawns and golf courses as well as in mangrove forests (western Abu Dhabi) with fresh water supply from nearby irrigated lawns (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The species is now present throughout Africa, temperate and tropical Asia, Australasia and tropical America (Cook 1996), it has an almost pan-global distribution in the southern hemisphere (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). The species is considered to have originated in the Americas, but to have undergone natural dispersal from the America to Africa then to Australasia (Gross et al. 2017). However, it has also undergone human-mediated dispersal, which has obscured the origin of some populations (Gross et al. 2017); the origin of the species in the UAE can not be confirmed, but we consider it here to be occurring naturally in the country.