Mantophasmatidae


Mantophasmatidae is a family of carnivorous wingless insects within the order Notoptera, which was discovered in Africa in 2001. Originally, the group was regarded as an order in its own right, and named Mantophasmatodea, but, using recent evidence indicating a sister group relationship with Grylloblattidae, Arillo and Engel have combined the two groups into a single order, Notoptera.

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 is western South Africa and Namibia, although a relict population, and Eocene fossils suggest a wider ancient distribution.
Mantophasmatodea are wingless even as adults, making them relatively difficult to identify. They resemble a cross between praying mantids 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 and Tanzania, and from a 45-million-year-old specimen of Baltic amber.
Live specimens were found in Namibia by an international expedition in early 2002; Tyrannophasma gladiator was found on the Brandberg Massif, and Mantophasma zephyrum 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 South Africa 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:
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.