This might look unlike most cockroaches you’ve ever seen — but that’s because it was probably quite a lot more aggressive than any you’ve seen too. It had to be, because it likely survived by hunting (admittedly quite small) prey, some 100 million years ago.
Examined by researchers from the Geological Institute in Bratislava and the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, the cockroach’s long neck and legs suggest it was active, nimble and actively in pursuit of prey to eat. A descendant of this kind of predatory cockroach is the praying mantis, which still exists today. [Geologica Carpathica via New Scientist]