A spider's erection, and other cool things trapped in amber (pictures) - CNET

This ancient roach discovered in even more Burmese amber is called Manipulator modificaputis, but if it were a character in a Roadrunner cartoon, it might just as easily be called Roachus terrifyingus.

"The tiny monster, measuring just under 1 centimeter (about .4 inch), hosts a weird amalgam of unique features making it look like a chimera of a crane fly, a praying mantis and a cockroach," says a report about the critter by the BBC.

The bug was one of many ancient roaches found in amber in Myanmar and is indeed a distant cousin to today's praying mantis. It has eyes on top of its head, to help it spot predators. It also has a triangular head that sticks out on a stalk from its body, and it was believed to have hunted at night.

"This little monster was a solitary hunter, able to run very fast, with a body unlike the vast majority of cockroaches living today. It posed high above ground, frequently taking flight when necessary, and seizing its prey with strong short spines developed on its extremely long feet," Peter Vršanský told the BBC.

Vršanský is from the Geological Institute of Bratislava and the Slovak Academy of Sciences and reported on the discovery of the roach in the joual Geologica Carpathica.

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