Max-Planck doctoral student discovers 'livin...( University of Hamburg the Palaeontolo...)

University of Hamburg, the Palaeontological Institute of the Berlin Museum for Natural History and from numerous private collections. On visiting the British Natural History Museum in London, Oliver Zompro was shown a spiny insect that had been collected in 1950 in Tanzania. It had been sent to the British museum 16 years earlier by the Museum in Lund/Sweden to be identified. Another completely transparent piece of amber that Zompro had been given to examine from the private collection of Friedrich Kernegger, contained an adult male (subsequently described as Raptophasma kerneggeri Zompro, 2001 in Mitt. Geol.-Palont. Inst. Univ. Hamburg 85: 229-261,2001). There was a striking similarity with the animal in London. Zompro eventually found a similar-looking adult female in unidentified stick-insect material in the Berlin Museum for Natural History, which was found in Namibia at the beginning of the 20th century. Comparisons with the animal in amber demonstrated: for the first time since the discovery of Zoraptera in 1913 and the Grylloblattodea (= Notoptera) in 1915, a new insect order had been discovered.

The German postdoctoral scholarship-holder Dr. Klaus-Dieter KLASS and Prof. Dr. Niels Peder KRISTENSEN from the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, co-authors of the "Science" article, provided support in investigating the structure (morphology, anatomy) and in describing how the animal is distinct from previously known insect orders. Their detailed examinations confirm without any doubt that the animal represents a previously unknown insect order. However, its exact position within the system of insects has not yet been clarified. The species found in the museum represent the genus Mantophasma (body length up to 2.5 cm), the animals in amber the genus Raptophasma (body length 1.5 cm).

There were approximately 40 eggs in the abdomen of the female from Namibia which was conserved in alcohol (Museum for Natural History, Berlin). Initial electr
'"/>

Contact: Prof. Dr. Joachim Adis
adis@mpil-ploen.mpg.de
49-45-22-763-262
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
17-Apr-2002

Page: 1 2 3 4 5
Related biology news :

1. Max-Planck Researchers Unravel The Structure Of The Methane Forming Enzyme
2. APS announces the winners of its 2004 postdoctoral fellowship in physiological genomics
3. UT Southwestern postdoctoral researcher wins international Young Scientist Prize
4. APS announces the winners of its 2002 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physiological Genomics
5. 32,000 graduate students grade their doctoral programs, poor report cards in career guidance and preparation for teaching
6. APS awards more than $200,000 to its 2001 Postdoctoral Fellowship winners
7. Chern Memorial Award Presented To Wistar Institute Postdoctoral Fellow
8. Chemical engineering grad students will take notable national awards
9. South Dakota Tech grad student finds rare whale
10. APS Foundation names student travel award recipients
11. APS awards more than $140,000 to minority students of physiology