[3] A more recent description based on three specimens collected near Papua New Guinea highlights prominent conules and relatively infrequent oscules.

[5][6] Along with other members of the genus, D. arenaria was listed as a rare invasive species found in Hawaii in a 2008 NOAA memorandum.

For example, members of a class of cytotoxic molecules known as cryptophycins, originally isolated from cyanobacteria, have also been found in D. arenaria, where they were given the name arenastatins.

[9] A series of sesquiterpenoid hydroquinones have also been isolated from D. arenaria,[10] among which are two unusual examples with distinctive enantiomers of their drimane molecular skeleton.

[11] A sterol isolated from the species was reported as a rare example of a molecule capable of reversing multidrug efflux-mediated fungal resistance to the drug fluconazole.