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Additional Photos
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Atagema echinata (Pease, 1860)
Maximum size: 24 mm (Kay,
1979).
Identification:
This
is a cream species with elaborate papillae surrounding small
depressions. The depressions are filled with dusky brown pigment and
the papillae may be frosted with white. The rhinophore sheaths are high
while the rhinophores are pointed and slender with many lamellae. They
are usually tipped with white.
Natural history:
Kay, 1979 refers
to Atagema echinata as a
common species on shallow reef platforms and in back reef habitats on
Oahu and Kauai. However, we've never found it on Maui. Scott Johnson
found it only twice on Oahu and the Big Island at exposed sites.
Distribution:
Big Island, Oahu and Kauai: widely distributed in the western &
central
Pacific.
Taxonomic notes:
This
is the species that Kay, 1979 as well as Kay & Young, 1969 list as Trippa echinata. It was first
reported from Hawaii in Pease, 1860 (as Doris echinata). There's some ambiguity about whether the original description of Doris echinata (Pease, 1860) refers to this species or the animals we're calling Atagema sp. #3.
Photo: Scott
Johnson: about 21 mm: Puako, Big Island; Sept. 27, 1980.
Observations and comments:
Note
1: ( )
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