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Diadema savignyi

Vana

Extreme Longspine-Urchin

Multimedia & Additional Resources

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Image:	Adult, Aitutaki	47KB
Image:	Adult, Palmerston	58KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Extreme Longspine-Urchin

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Vana (RR AT MK MT AK MH PK?), Kināvana (MG), Nava (TS TW)

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Food, Medicine; Poisonous sting - serious

KEY FEATURES: The common black urchin with extremely long thin needle-like spines, typically longer than 2x the diameter of the test. Test to 10cm, spines to 25cm. The spines are sometimes banded, and can also be uniformly pale grey. The spines are of mixed lengths over the test, without five distinct bands of shorter and finer spines. The test is black with a fine blue line encircling the top and giving rise to five radiating lines which soon fork. At each fork there may be a white spot. The anal sac is uniformly black. Young: as the adult, except spines are banded.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
	^P	^P	^P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Diadema savignyi (Audouin, 1826)
SYNONYMS: Centrechinus savignyi

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ECHINODERMATA; ELEUTHEROZOA; ECHINOIDEA; REGULARIA; Aulodonta; DIADEMATIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Mangaia: specimen, College, 9/2000, ID GMcC. Atiu: field-specimen, College collection, 10/2000, ID GMcC. Mauke: field-specimen, College collection, 3/2001, ID GMcC. Pukapuka: collect and check this species, G.McCormack 3/2005.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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