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Science

New Order of Insect Found 30

Posted by michael from the raid-still-kills-it dept.
dumfrac writes "A bug thought to have died out 40-million years ago is alive and well in southern Africa. It's aggressive, carnivorous, and some call it "the gladiator". And it's so unlike anything else that it represents not just a new species, but a new order. Check out the rest of the article at IOL or do a Google search for "Mantophasmatodea" which is the name of the new order."
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New Order of Insect Found More

New Order of Insect Found

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  • Although class insecta has over 1000 identified species, they are still just a bunch of bugs.
    • Although class insecta has over 1000 identified species, they are still just a bunch of bugs.

      I think your off by a few orders of magnitude. I have a collection with more that has more than 1000 unique species. IIRC there are more like 100,000 species of insect, but that may just be species of the order Coleoptera (beetles) I can't remember.
      • beetles are funny. I still smile at the story (told by gould?) about the zoologist asked what his work could tell us about god (this was in the times when this was conscidered a meaningful question).

        his answer: "He must have an inordinate fondness for beetles."

    • From the Farside by Gary Larson: (two bugs talking) Think about it, Ed,... the class Insecta
      contains 26 orders, almost 1000 families, and over 750,000 described species --
      but I can't shake the feeling we're all just a bunch of bugs.

  • ooh! i win the race! (Score:4, Informative)

    by Hubert_Shrump ( 256081 ) <[cobranet] [at] [gmail.com]> on Friday September 27, 2002 @11:09PM (#4348640) Journal
    this was reported on several months ago here [slashdot.org] let the flaming begin!
  • Does this mean there's still a chance for the dodo? I really want one.

  • info (Score:3, Informative)

    by radiashun ( 220050 ) on Saturday September 28, 2002 @12:11AM (#4348854)
    click HERE [nature.com] for more info from Nature on this bug. Apparently it's related to the praying mantis, which is by far the coolest bug ever :-)

    • not related (Score:3, Informative)

      by phriedom ( 561200 )
      It is LIKE the mantis, in that the female eats the male after mating (for 3-5 days.) But I wouldn't say its RELATED. From the article that you linked to:"The Mantophasmatodea's relation to other insects is uncertain. Klass and his colleagues suspect that they are closest to the stick insects and a small group called the Grylloblattodea, found on mountaintops in North America and Asia. Grylloblattodea was the last new order discovered, in 1914."
      Its a whole new order of bug, so it isn't very related to anything really. Kind of like cats and dogs, right?
  • The insect has been nicknamed 'Gladiator', mostly because its exoskeleton resembles armor, and partly because it is predatory and feeds on other insects. Physically, it can be described as a cross between a stick insect and a praying mantis.

  • Security through obscurity? (Score:4, Funny)

    by SpaceLifeForm ( 228190 ) on Saturday September 28, 2002 @01:08AM (#4349007)
    Or just a nasty bug that was waiting to be discovered?

  • My contribution to science. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Alsee ( 515537 ) on Saturday September 28, 2002 @01:16AM (#4349033) Homepage
    the team has published a description of two species.
    Three or four more await description

    They are all ugly. Next?

    -
  • Bugtraq would be more appropriate
  • Before we can act on your bug report, "new class of bug" we need a reproducable testcase. You did not indicate in your email what operating system you were running and what revision of "World" software you were using when you discovered this bug. If this bug is only observed once every 50 years, it will be difficult for us to track down and remove the bug in time for the next release of "world", hence the request for a repeatable testcase so that we may observe the bug for ourselves, and attach a debugger. Also, please indicate if this bug results in a system down, or if there is a work around for this bug.
  • New order software company found.

    "A company thought to have died out 40-million years ago is alive and well in southern Africa. It's aggressive, carnivorous, and some call it "the gladiator". And it's so unlike anything else that it represents not just a new species, but a new order. Check out the rest of the article at IOL or do a Google search for "Microphasoftodea" which is the name of the new order."

    Look out Microsoft, you have prehistoric competition.

    Ok, sorry. Lame joke. I just saw the phrase "New Order" and it gave me the creeps, so I thought of Hitler and Bush's "New World Order" and of course, Microsoft.
  • Is it too much to ask for?

    Can't we all just get a link [google.com].

    Don't you know how hard it is for me to double click "Mantophasmatodea", open a new tab, middle click it in my google box, and press enter... Think about the people you are affecting when making such decissions in a /. post.
  • ok, that's a Monty Python, Life of Brian quote, i'm lame, i know...

    Anyway, did anyone else find the preoccupation with this insect's mating behavior disturbing? i mean here's an entirely new order of insects, do they talk about what they eat (other than that they're carnivorous), how long they live for, some evolutionary history, where exactly it is that they live, etc, etc. They don't even talk about how many offspring they have after all that mating... Note to boot: cannabalism isn't even uncommon after mating in the arthropod world (although the nutrient thing was interesting, although lacking details)..

    "Bunch of inbred trailer trash... all they ever talk about is fuckin'." -Old guy from Green Mile

    -tid242

  • Alternatively, search the Science section of Slashdot [slashdot.org] to find the last time this was posted.

    I'm sure I just saw that cat...

  • Familiar (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Saturday September 28, 2002 @10:32PM (#4352165) Journal
    and the female eats the male after days of mating.

    Us humans have something similar: Alimony

  • start life, grow up, think & do nothing but sex, and ultimately die... What new order is this? All animals do that :-)
  • If you look closely, you will see that these bugs are perched on what looks like a mature opium poppy. Of COURSE they are mating for several days! Of COURSE after a few days of sex, the female gets hungry enough to eat the male! I would like to see how these bugs act when they are not slurping up raw opium. I bet they just grouse at each other and fight over the remote, like all other straight fauna.

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