Bankia carinata is a highly modified woodboring mollusk known as a shipworm. It is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical waters, but rare in the East Pacific. It has been introduced in Costa Rica, in Posorja and Guayas, Ecuador, and has been reported in San Diego, but with little supporting information. It was also reported on debris from the 2011 tsunami that washed up in Hawaii and West Coast of North America. No impacts have been reported in its introduced range.