During a cave diving expedition to explore the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world’s longest known submarine lava tube on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, an international team of scientists and cave divers discovered the previously unknown species of crustacean, belonging to the remipede genus Speleonectes, along with two new species of annelid worms of the class Polychaeta.
Xibalbanus tulumensis (previously Speleonectes tulumensis – Speleonectes = 'cave swimmer'; tulumensis = 'occurring at Tulum' – Xibalbanus = 'from Xibalba') is a venomous, hermaphroditic crustacean found in anchialine caves on the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean Sea.