 A study in 1993 by Segawa et al. revealed that the population of S. lessoniana in Okinawa may actually be composed of three distinct species . This was confirmed in genetic studies by Izuka et al. in 1994 . Triantafillos and Adams in 2005 also showed that S. lessoniana in Shark Bay , Australia is composed of two species . These findings indicate that S. lessoniana may actually comprise several very similar and closely related species . It is now believed that S. lessoniana is a cryptic species complex . 
