Click beetle
| Click beetles | |
|---|---|
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| Click beetle adults and larvae (wireworms) Left: Wheat Wireworm (Agriotes mancus) Right: Sand Wireworm (Horistonotus uhlerii) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Superfamily: | Elateroidea |
| Family: |
Elateridae Leach, 1815 |
| Subfamilies | |
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Agrypninae |
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| Synonyms | |
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Ampedidae |
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Agrypninae
Cardiophorinae
Campyloxeninae
Cebrioninae
Dendrometrinae
Elaterinae
Eudicronychinae
Hemiopinae
Lissominae
Morostomatinae
Negastriinae
Oxynopterinae
Physodactylinae
Pityobiinae
Semiotinae
Subprotelaterinae
Thylacosterninae
Ampedidae
Campylidae
Cavicoxumidae
Ludiidae
Monocrepidiidae
Pangauridae
Phyllophoridae
Prosternidae
Pyrophoridae
Synaptidae
Insects in the family Elateridae are commonly called click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related families Cerophytidae, Eucnemidae, and ). Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or skipjacks. This family was defined by William Elford Leach (1790–1836) in 1815. They are a cosmopolitan beetle family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess. There are a few closely related families in which a few members have the same mechanism, but all elaterids can click. A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a corresponding notch on the mesosternum, producing a violent "click" that can bounce the beetle into the air. Clicking is mainly used to avoid predation, although it is also useful when the beetle is on its back and needs to right itself. There are about 9300 known species worldwide, and 965 valid species in North America.
Click beetles can be large and colorful, but most are under 2 centimeters long and dull in coloration and patterning. The adults are typically nocturnal and phytophagous, but rarely of economic importance. On hot nights they may enter houses, but are not pests. Click beetle larvae, called wireworms, are usually saprophagous, living on dead organisms, but some species are serious agricultural pests, and others are active predators of other insect larvae. Some elaterid species are bioluminescent in both larval and adult form, such as those of the genus Pyrophorus.
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