'Fossil' is thriving.A "LIVING fossil" insect dating back at least 45 million years has been found crawling about on a remote African mountain. Scientists, who provisionally christened the creature "Gladiator gladiator (Latin; swordsman) Professional combatant in ancient Rome who engaged in fights to the death as sport. Gladiators originally performed at Etruscan funerals, the intent being to give the dead man armed attendants in the next world. ", likened the find to discovering a living sabretooth tiger. The bug, the size of a paper clip, is described as a cross between a stick insect and a praying mantis praying mantis: see mantid. . It represents the first new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, to be discovered since 1915, researchers reported yesterday in the journal Science. International experts found two species of the insect in the area around Brandberg mountain in Namibia. |
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