Click beetle

Click Beetles are members of the family Elateridae, a large and diverse family of beetles found worldwide, comprising over 10,000 species. The name derives from the remarkable ability of these beetles to right themselves when overturned by snapping a spine on the thorax into a groove, producing an audible clicking sound and propelling the insect into the air. The elongated, parallel-sided body plan is characteristic, with adults typically 5–45 mm long and colored brown, black, gray, or occasionally brightly marked. Adult click beetles are often found on flowers, foliage, and beneath bark, and many species are nocturnal. Larvae, known as wireworms, are elongated, tough-skinned, and soil-dwelling, feeding on plant roots, seeds, tubers, and decaying organic matter, with a development period that may span several years. Wireworms of certain species are major agricultural pests, damaging crops including potatoes, corn, and wheat. Other Elateridae species are important decomposers of deadwood. The family is distributed across all terrestrial biogeographic regions, with greatest diversity in tropical forests. The ecology and conservation status of click beetles varies enormously across the thousands of species in this family.