Gladiator. (Short Take).This savage-looking insect, dubbed "the 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. ," marks the first new order (a category used to classify related groups) of insects discovered in 87 years. The 4-centimeter (1.6-inch) long wingless bug, a cross between a mantis mantis: see mantid. mantis or praying mantis Any of more than 1,500 species of the insect suborder Mantodea (order Orthoptera). and stick insect stick insect: see walking stick. , lives atop mountains in Namibia, Africa. "Gladiator" feeds on spiders and small insects that it snares with its front legs, explains German entomologist (insect scientist) Oliver Zompro, who identified the carnivorous car·niv·o·rous adj. 1. Of or relating to carnivores. 2. Flesh-eating or predatory: a carnivorous bird. 3. (meat-eating) creature last February. Although 10,000 insect species are identified each year, the last insect order was discovered in 1915. The new order, Mantophasmatodea, brings the total number of insect orders to 31. |
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