Mantophasmatodea: a New Insect Order with Extant Members in the Afrotropics

Scientists describe a new insect order, known as Mantophasmatodea, based on museum specimens of a new genus with two species: Mantophasma zephyra gen. et sp. nov. (a single female from Namibia) and M. subsolana sp. nov. (a single male from Tanzania). Researchers involved in the analysis concluded that this case is the first instance since 1914 of a newly described extant insect taxon that could not be placed within a recognized order. Findings from the study indicated that Mantophasmatodeans are apterous carnivores. Experts have assigned Raptophasma Zompro from Baltic amber to the Mantophasmatodea, indicating a wider historical range for the lineage.