Etymology

English

eng

The specific name is an adjective in apposition formed as a compound of the island name “xmas” and the Latin participle, illuminans, meaning “lighting”, referring to its sampling locality name (Christmas Island) and luminescence.

Okanishi, M.; Oba, Y.; Fujita, Y. (2019). Brittle stars from a submarine cave of Christmas Island, northwestern Australia, with description of a new bioluminescent species Ophiopsila xmasilluminans (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) and notes on its behaviour. <em>Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.</em> 67: 421-439.