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Family: Elateridae (click beetles)
Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Arthopoda > Mandibulata > Atelocerata > Panhexapoda > Hexapoda
> Insecta
(insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota > Metapterygota > Neoptera > Eumetabola >
Holometabola > Coleoptera
(beetles)
> Polyphaga > Superfamily: Elateroidea
These beetles are called Click
Beetles because when they land on their backs, they have a
characteristic ability to catapult themselves into the air with a
'click' . This is done with a special spine and notch mechanism situated
on the dorsal side between the pro- and
mesothorax. They are small to large beetles (4-80mm), elongate and
parallel-sided. They vary in colour and can be quite strikingly marked.
They could be mistaken for small
buprestid beetles. The head is deeply tucked under the pronotum but
unlike the buprestids, the points on the hind margins of the
pronotum are more extended.
Adults are most often seen at night as adult are mostly
nocturnal and are attracted to lights. Adults feed on pollen, foliage and
flowers. Larvae usually live in the soil and rotting wood, feeding on roots,
bulbs and other insects. The long shiny yellow larvae, called wire worm, are
sometimes pests of crops.
Some subfamiles, genera and species
Page by Margie Cochrane |
