Mantophasmatidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

of carnivorous wingless insects within the order

Notoptera The wingless insect order Notoptera, a group first proposed in 1915, had been largely unrecognized since its original conception, until resurrected in 2004. As now defined, the order comprises five families, three of them known only from fossils ...

, which was discovered in Africa in 2001.K.-D. Klass, O. Zompro, N.P. Kristensen, J. Adis. Mantophasmatodea: a new insect order with extant members in the afrotropics Science, 296 (2002), pp. 1456–1459Adis, J., O. Zompro, E. Moombolah-Goagoses, and E. Marais. 2002. Gladiators: A new order of insect. ''Scientific American'' 287:60-65. Originally, the group was regarded as an order in its own right, and named Mantophasmatodea, but, using recent evidence indicating a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

relationship with Grylloblattidae (formerly classified in the order Grylloblattodea),Terry, M.D., and M.F. Whiting. 2005. Mantophasmatodea and phylogeny of the lower neopterous insects. ''Cladistics'' 21(3): 240–257. Arillo and Engel have combined the two groups into a single order,

Overview

The most common vernacular name for this order is gladiators, although they also are called rock crawlers, heelwalkers, mantophasmids, and colloquially, mantos. Their modern centre of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

is western

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

( Brandberg Massif), although the modern

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

population of '' Tanzaniophasma subsolana'' in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', "daw ...

fossils suggest a wider ancient distribution. Mantophasmatodea are wingless even as

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

s, making them relatively difficult to identify. They resemble a cross between

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

es and phasmids, and molecular evidence indicates that they are most closely related to the equally enigmatic group Grylloblattodea. Initially, the gladiators were described from old museum specimens that originally were found in Namibia ('' Mantophasma zephyra'') and Tanzania ('' M. subsolana''), and from a 45-million-year-old specimen of Baltic

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

('' Raptophasma kerneggeri''). Live specimens were found in Namibia by an international expedition in early 2002; '' Tyrannophasma gladiator'' was found on the Brandberg Massif, and '' Mantophasma zephyra'' was found on the Erongoberg Massif. Since then, a number of new genera and species have been discovered, the most recent being two new genera, '' Kuboesphasma'' and '' Minutophasma'', each with a single species, described from Richtersveld in

in 2018.

Biology

Mantophasmatids are wingless carnivores. During courtship, they communicate using vibrations transmitted through the ground or substrate.

Classification

The most recent classification recognizes numerous genera, including fossils: Gladiator

* Basal and ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertaint ...

'' ** Genus †'' Raptophasma'' Zompro, 2001

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

** Genus †'' Adicophasma'' Engel & Grimaldi, 2004 Baltic amber, Eocene **Genus †'' Juramantophasma'' Huang ''et al,'' 2008 Daohugou Bed, China, Middle Jurassic (

Callovian In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...

) ** Genus ?†'' Ensiferophasma'' Zompro, 2005 (assignment to Mantophasmatodea considered dubious) * Subfamily Tanzaniophasmatinae ** Genus '' Tanzaniophasma'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 – Tanzania *** Species '' Tanzaniophasma subsolana'' (Zompro, Klass, Kristensen, & Adis 2002) * Subfamily Mantophasmatinae ** Tribe Tyrannophasmatini *** Genus '' Praedatophasma'' Zompro & Adis, 2002 – Namibia **** Species '' Praedatophasma maraisi'' Zompro & Adis, 2002 *** Genus '' Tyrannophasma'' Zompro, 2003 – Namibia **** Species '' Tyrannophasma gladiator'' Zompro, 2003 ** Tribe Mantophasmatini Zompro, Klass, Kristensen, Adis, 2002 (

paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

?) *** Genus '' Mantophasma'' Zompro, Klass, Kristensen, Adis, 2002 – Namibia **** Species '' Mantophasma gamsbergense'' Zompro & Adis, 2006 **** Species '' Mantophasma kudubergense'' Zompro & Adis, 2006 **** Species '' Mantophasma omatakoense'' Zompro & Adis, 2006 **** Species '' Mantophasma zephyra'' Zompro, Klass, Kristensen, & Adis 2002 *** Genus '' Pachyphasma'' Wipfler, Pohl, & Predel, 2012 – Namibia **** Species '' Pachyphasma brandbergense'' Wipfler, Pohl, & Predel, 2012 *** Genus '' Sclerophasma'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 – Namibia **** Species '' Sclerophasma paresisense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, & Tojo 2003 ** Tribe Austrophasmatini Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 *** Genus '' Austrophasma'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 – South Africa **** Species '' Austrophasma caledonense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort & Tojo, 2003 **** Species '' Austrophasma gansbaaiense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort & Tojo, 2003 **** Species '' Austrophasma rawsonvillense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort & Tojo, 2003 *** Genus '' Hemilobophasma'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 – South Africa **** Species '' Hemilobophasma montaguense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort & Tojo, 2003 *** Genus '' Karoophasma'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 – South Africa **** Species '' Karoophasma biedouwense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort & Tojo, 2003 **** Species '' Karoophasma botterkloofense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort & Tojo, 2003 *** Genus '' Kuboesphasma'' Wipfler, Theska & Predel, 2018 – South Africa **** Species '' Kuboesphasma compactum'' Wipfler, Theska & Predel, 2018 *** Genus '' Lobatophasma'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 (formerly ''Lobophasma'') – South Africa **** Species '' Lobatophasma redelinghuysense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort & Tojo, 2003 *** Genus '' Minutophasma'' Wipfler, Theska & Predel, 2018 – South Africa **** Species '' Minutophasma richtersveldense'' Wipfler, Theska & Predel, 2018 *** Genus '' Namaquaphasma'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 – South Africa **** Species '' Namaquaphasma ookiepense'' Klass, Picker, Damgaard, van Noort, Tojo, 2003 *** Genus '' Striatophasma'' Wipfler, Pohl & Predel, 2012 – Namibia **** Species '' Striatophasma naukluftense'' Wipfler, Pohl & Predel, 2012 *** Genus '' Viridiphasma'' Eberhard, Picker, Klass, 2011Eberhard, MJB, MD Picker and KD Klass. (2011). Sympatry in Mantophasmatodea, with the description of a new species and phylogenetic considerations. Organisms Diversity & Evolution 11(1): 43-59. – South Africa **** Species '' Viridiphasma clanwilliamense'' Eberhard, Picker, Klass, 2011 Some taxonomists assign full family status to the subfamilies and tribes, and sub-ordinal status to the family. In total, there are 21 extant species described as of 2018.

References

External links

Mantophasmatodea - A new order of insects

* ttp://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/04/26/man-discovers-a-new-life-form-at-a-south-african-truck-stop Man discovers a new life-form at a South African truck stop {{Taxonbar, from=Q13560459 Insect families Insects of Namibia Insects of South Africa

Overview

Biology

Classification

See also

References

External links