WASHINGTON, DC, April 17, 2002 (ENS) - A new order of insects has been identified in a discovery that researchers say is equivalent to finding a live saber-tooth tiger. This first discovery of a new insect order since 1915 brings the total number of insect orders to 31.

The insect is known by scientists as Mantophasmatodea, a predatory animal which resembles a mix between a stick insect and a preying mantis. It was originally found in a 45 million year old piece of Baltic amber by Oliver Zompro, a doctoral student at the Max-Planck Institute for Limnology in Ploen, Germany.

A nymph of a yet undescribed species of Mantophasmatodea from Brandberg massif. (Photo © Piotr Naskrecki, Conservation International)

Living individuals were confirmed on a recently completed rediscovery expedition, funded by Conservation International, an organization based in Washington, DC that works in 30 countries on four continents to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity.

These insects are some of the last witnesses of the time when Africa and America were part of the same landmass, scientists said.

This discovery is comparable to finding a living mastodon or saber-tooth tiger, said Piotr Naskrecki, director of Conservation International's new Invertebrate Diversity Initiative, who attended the rediscovery mission and photographed the new order.

"It tells us that there are places on Earth that act as protective pockets, preserving tiny glimpses of what life was like millions of years ago," said Naskrecki.

Brandberg Massif (Photo courtesy National Museum of Namibia)

Invertebrates are not seen as charismatic as tigers, pandas or dolphins, so they are often overlooked as conservation priorities. But insects, with more than 1.2 million known species, represent more than 80 percent of all living creatures on Earth.

Harvard University professor Edward O. Wilson, a two time Pulitzer Prize winning author and Conservation International board member, has made the study of insects his life work and the foundation of the science of evolutionary biology. "If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on," Dr. Wilson said, "but if invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt that the human species could last more than a few months."

The new Invertebrate Diversity Initiative, part of The Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, recognizes invertebrates as an important conservation priority. Inspired by this latest discovery in Namibia, scientists intend to nominate the Brandberg region as a UNESCO World Heritage site.