A new genus and species of Mantophasmatidae, namely: Tyrannophasma gladiator Zompro, gen. nov. sp. nov., is described and figured based on material from the Brandberg Massif, Omaruru District, Namibia. A key to fossil and extant genera of Mantophasmatodea and new observations on the bionomics and behaviour of T. gladiator sp. nov. and Mantophasma zephyra Zompro et al., 2002, are included. ‘Gladiator-bugs’ is here proposed as the vernacular name for the order Mantophasmatodea. A standardised set of defined measurements for the description of species is proposed.