WINDHOEK, March 20: A bizarre spiny-backed cricket-like insect thought to have lived and died millions of years ago has been found to be thriving on a remote peak in Namibia, scientists said Wednesday.

The find has been likened to the discovery of the coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to have become extinct along with the dinosaurs but which was last century found to be still alive.

The insect, nicknamed “gladiator,” is so exceptional that entomologists said they would have to place it in a new order of classification, the first time this has happened in 87 years.

Eugene Marais, curator of entomology at Namibia’s National Museum, led a 13-member trek to the 2,573-metre Brandberg mountain, a peak located 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Windhoek, the Namibian capital.

In a two-week stay they confirmed the work of a German scientist, Oliver Sampro of the Max Planck Institute, who last year said he had discovered the insect.

Marais said the discovery of the insect was totally unexpected, as it was first noted as being fossilised in amber and was thought to be extinct.

“It’s like the coelacanth and the Wollemi pine tree, which were later discovered to exist,” he said.

Coelacanths lived for 400 million years ago but were thought to have died out with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago until a living specimen was fished out of waters near South Africa in 1938.

The Wollemi pine has been called “the dinosaur tree.” It was only ever seen in fossils, in this case dating back 150 million years ago, until it was discovered in 1994 in a park in Australia’s New South Wales.

Marais said the insect, which looks like a cross between a cricket, a stick insect and a praying mantis, was nocturnal and a predator.

“We call it the gladiator because it’s so charismatic. It’s fairly attractive with nice colouration, which is similar to the granite of the Brandberg where it occurs,” he said.

“It has big spines on its back to prevent others from eating it”.

The Namibian insect “is totally new, so we cannot classify it yet,” Marais said. It will reign in an order by itself, though.—AFP