Everything about Mantophasmatodea totally explained
Mantophasmatodea is an order of African
carnivorous insects discovered in
2002, the first new insect order to be described since 1914. The most common vernacular name for this order is
gladiators, although they're also called
heelwalkers,
mantophasmids, and, coloquially,
mantos. Their modern centre of
endemism is western
South Africa and
Namibia (
Brandberg Massif(External Link
)), although a relict population and
Eocene fossil suggest a wider ancient distribution.
Members of the order are wingless even as
adults, making them relatively difficult to identify. They resemble a mix between
praying mantises and
phasmids, and molecular evidence indicates that they're most closely related to the
phasmids and the equally enigmatic order
Grylloblattodea . The gladiators were initially described from live specimens found in Namibia (
Mantophasma zephyra and
M. subsolana) and from a 45-million-year-old specimen of
Baltic amber (
Rhaptophasma kerneggeri).
The authors of the paper describing the new order note that "it can't at present be categorically excluded" that the two
Mantophasma specimens are of the same species, with the size difference reflecting
sexual dimorphism, but they consider this unlikely, because of the wide geographical separation of the specimens.
Classification
The three initial
species of gladiators were classified as follows:
However, additional specimens and genetic studies have produced several new species identifications, including splitting all three of these species into different families:
Family Tanzaniophasmatidae
Family: Mantophasmatidae
Family: Austrophasmatidae
Incertae sedis
Further Information
Get more info on 'Mantophasmatodea'.
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