Mantophasmatodea
Mantophasma
Raptophasma
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Mantophasmatodea is an order of
carnivorous insects discovered in
2002, the first new insect order to be described since
1914. The common name for this order is
Gladiators, although they are also called
Mantophasmids,
Mantos and
Heelwalkers.
Members of the order are wingless even as
adults, making them relatively difficult to identify. They resemble
praying mantises and other phasmids. The order was initially described from live specimens found in
Namibia (
Mantophasma zephyra and
M. subsolana) and from a 45-million-year-old specimen of
Baltic amber (
Raptophasma kerneggeri).
The authors of the paper describing the new order note that "it cannot 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:
- Family Mantophasmatidae
- West Wind Gladiator, Mantophasma zephyra
- Tanzaniophasmatidae
- Mantophasmatidae
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