Click the Beetle

Click the Beetle

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• Click beetle, common name for members of the widespread beetle family Elateridae. Also called elater beetle, the click beetle has a hinge across the front of the body that allows it to flex, and a spine-and-groove arrangement on the underside of the body that provides a snapping mechanism.
  
  
• The click beetle gets it’s name from the clicking sound it makes as it rights itself from an upside down position. Because of its short little legs this insect cannot flip itself into an upright position. It has a hinge across the front of its body that flexes.
  
  
• They range in length from 1/4 in. to 4 in. (6.4–102 mm); most are black or brown. Most adults are nocturnal leaf-eaters.
  
  
• The Click Beetle it is also called a Snapping Beetle, Spring Beetle or Skipjack.
  
  
• A click beetle also snaps its body when it is picked up, which may cause the predator to drop it. Click beetles have long, flat bodies, generally rectangular, but curved at the ends.
  
  
• However the North American Click Beetle or the Eyed Click Beetle can grow up to 1.75 inches long and has two large black and white eyelike spots right behind its head. Some tropical click beetles are brilliantly luminescent. Click beetles are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Coleoptera, family Elateridae.