Oliver Zompro is a German biologist who is credited with the discovery in 2002 of a new suborder of carnivorous African insects, Mantophasmatodea or "gladiators", which was originally considered to be a new insect order but was later relegated to subordinal status. Zompro initially described gladiators from old museum specimens that originally were found in Namibia (''

Mantophasma zephyrum ''Mantophasma zephyra'' is a species of insect in the family Mantophasmatidae. It is endemic to Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares ...

'') and Tanzania ('' M. subsolanum''), and from a 45-million-year-old specimen of

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

('' Raptophasma kerneggeri''). Live specimens were found in Namibia by an international expedition in early 2002; ''

Tyrannophasma gladiator ''Tyrannophasma'' is a genus of insects in the family Mantophasmatidae. It is a monotypic genus consisting of the species ''Tyrannophasma gladiator'', which is endemic to the Brandberg Massif of central Namibia Namibia (, ), officially t ...

'' was found on the

Brandberg Massif The Brandberg ( Damara: Dâures; hz, Omukuruvaro) is Namibia's highest mountain. Location and extent Brandberg Mountain is located in former Damaraland, now Erongo, in the northwestern Namib Desert, near the coast, and covers an area of ap ...

, and ''

'' was found on the Erongoberg Massif.

References

External links

New insect order found in Southern Africa

* ttp://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=man-discovers-new-life-form-at-sout-2011-04-26 Man discovers a new life-form at a South African truck stop German entomologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{Germany-zoologist-stub