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Elateridae or click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related families
Cerophytidae The Cerophytidae are a family of beetles belonging to Elateroidea. Larvae are associated with rotting wood, on which they are presumed to feed.Costa, Cleide, Vanin, Sergio A., Lawrence, John F. and Ide, Sergio. "4.4. Cerophytidae Latreille, 183 ...
and
Eucnemidae Eucnemidae, or false click beetles, are a family of elateroid beetles including about 1700 species distributed worldwide. Description Closely related to the family Elateridae, specimens of Eucnemidae can reach a length of . Bodies are slight ...
, which are also capable of clicking) are a
family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...
of beetles. Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or skipjacks. This family was defined by
William Elford Leach William Elford Leach FRS (2 February 1791 – 25 August 1836) was an English zoologist and marine biologist. Life and work Elford Leach was born at Hoe Gate, Plymouth, the son of an attorney. At the age of twelve he began a medical apprenti ...
(1790–1836) in 1815. They are a cosmopolitan
beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess. There are a few other families of
Elateroidea The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of beetles. It contains the familiar click beetles, fireflies, and soldier beetles and their relatives. It consists of about 25,000 species. Description Elateroidea is a morphologically diverse group, ...
in which a few members have the same mechanism, but most elaterid subfamilies 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.


Etymology

Leach took the family name from the genus '' Elater'', coined by Linnaeus in 1758. In Greek, ἐλατήρ means one who drives, pushes, or beats out. It is also the origin of the word "elastic", from the notion of beating out a ductile substance.


Description and ecology

Some click beetles are large and colorful, but most are under two centimeters long and brown or black, without markings. The adults are typically
nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
and phytophagous, but only some are of economic importance. On hot nights they may enter houses, but are not pests there. Click beetle
larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...
e, 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''. Larvae are elongate, cylindrical or somewhat flattened, with hard bodies, somewhat resembling
mealworm Mealworms are the larval form of the yellow mealworm beetle, ''Tenebrio molitor'', a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Larvae typically measure about ...
s. The three pairs of legs on the
thoracic The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cr ...
segments are short and the last abdominal segment is, as is frequently the case in
beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
larvae, directed downward and may serve as a terminal proleg in some species. The ninth segment, the rearmost, is pointed in larvae of '' Agriotes'', '' Dalopius'' and '' Melanotus'', but is bifid due to a so-called caudal notch in '' Selatosomus'' (formerly ''Ctenicera''), '' Limonius'', '' Hypnoides'' and '' Athous'' species. The dorsum of the ninth abdominal segment may also have sharp processes, such as in the Oestodini, including the genera '' Drapetes'' and '' Oestodes''. Although some species complete their development in one year (e.g. '' Conoderus''), most wireworms spend three or four years in the
soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...
, feeding on decaying vegetation and the
root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
s of plants, and often causing damage to agricultural crops such as
potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
,
strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus ''Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
,
corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
, and
wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologica ...
. The subterranean habits of wireworms, their ability to quickly locate food by following
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is tr ...
gradients produced by plant material in the soil, and their remarkable ability to recover from illness induced by
insecticide Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to ...
exposure (sometimes after many months), make it hard to exterminate them once they have begun to attack a crop. Wireworms can pass easily through the soil on account of their shape and their propensity for following pre-existing burrows, and can travel from plant to plant, thus injuring the roots of multiple plants within a short time. Methods for pest control include
crop rotation Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. It reduces reliance on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, and the probability of developing resistant ...
and clearing the land of insects before sowing. Other subterranean creatures such as the leatherjacket grub of
crane flies Crane fly is a common name referring to any member of the insect family Tipulidae. Cylindrotominae, Limoniinae, and Pediciinae have been ranked as subfamilies of Tipulidae by most authors, though occasionally elevated to family rank. In the m ...
which have no legs, and geophilid
centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an a ...
s, which may have over two hundred, are sometimes confused with the six-legged wireworms.


Evolution

The oldest known species date to the
Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
, but most are problematic due to only being known from isolated elytra. Many fossil elaterids belong to the extinct subfamily Protagrypninae.


Selected genera

*'' Actenicerus'' *'' Adelocera'' *''
Adrastus In Greek mythology, Adrastus or Adrestus (Ancient Greek: Ἄδραστος or Ἄδρηστος), (perhaps meaning "the inescapable"), was a king of Argos, and leader of the Seven against Thebes. He was the son of the Argive king Talaus, but wa ...
'' *'' Aeoloderma'' *'' Aeoloides'' *''
Aeolus In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which ...
'' *'' Agriotes'' *'' Agrypnus'' *'' Alaus'' *'' Ampedus'' *'' Anchastus'' *'' Anostirus'' *'' Aplotarsus'' *'' Athous'' *'' Balgus'' *'' Betarmon'' *'' Brachygonus'' *'' Brachylacon'' *'' Brongniartia'' *'' Calambus'' *'' Cardiophorus'' *'' Cebrio'' *'' Chalcolepidus'' *'' Cidnopus'' *'' Conoderus'' *'' Craspedostethus'' *'' Crepidophorus'' *''
Ctenicera ''Ctenicera'' is a genus of click beetles. European species European species within this genus include: *'' Ctenicera bonomii'' Binaghi, 1940 *'' Ctenicera bosnica'' (Apfelbeck, 1894) *'' Ctenicera cuprea'' (Fabricius, 1775) *'' Ctenice ...
'' *'' Dacnitus'' *'' Dalopius'' *'' Danosoma'' *'' Deilelater'' *'' Diacanthous'' *'' Dicronychus'' *'' Dima'' *'' Drilus'' *'' Eanus'' *'' Ectamenogonus'' *'' Ectinus'' *'' Elater'' *'' Elathous'' *'' Eopenthes'' *'' Fleutiauxellus'' *'' Haterumelater'' *'' Hemicleus'' *''
Hemicrepidius ''Hemicrepidius'' is a genus of click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae. Species * '' Hemicrepidius acuminatus'' Champion, 1896 * '' Hemicrepidius amitinus'' Champion, 1896 * '' Hemicrepidius amoenus'' Philippi, 1861 * '' Hemicrepidius ...
'' *'' Heteroderes'' *'' Horistonotus'' *'' Hypnoidus'' *'' Hypoganus'' *'' Hypolithus'' *'' Idolus'' *'' Ignelater'' *'' Ischnodes'' *'' Isidus'' *'' Itodacne'' *'' Jonthadocerus'' *'' Lacon'' *'' Lanelater'' *'' Limoniscus'' *'' Limonius'' *'' Liotrichus'' *''
Megapenthes In Greek mythology, Megapenthes (; Ancient Greek: Μεγαπένθης ''Megapénthēs'' means "great sorrow") is a name that refers to two characters: * Megapenthes, a son of Proetus. * Megapenthes, a son of Menelaus.Pausanias, 3.19.9 Note ...
'' *'' Melanotus'' *'' Melanoxanthus'' *'' Metanomus'' *'' Merklelater'' *'' Mulsanteus'' *'' Negastrius'' *'' Neopristilophus'' *'' Nothodes'' *'' Oedostethus'' *'' Orithales'' *'' Paracardiophorus'' *'' Paraphotistus'' *'' Peripontius'' *'' Pheletes'' *'' Pittonotus'' *'' Pityobius'' *'' Podeonius'' *'' Porthmidius'' *'' Procraerus'' *'' Prodrasterius'' *'' Prosternon'' *'' Pyrearinus'' *'' Pyrophorus'' *'' Quasimus'' *'' Reitterelater'' *'' Selatosomus'' *'' Sericus'' *'' Simodactylus'' *'' Spheniscosomus'' *'' Stenagostus'' *'' Synaptus'' *'' Vesperelater'' *'' Zorochros''


Notes


References

*


External links

* *
Elateridae.
Click Beetles of the Palearctic Region. On the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
/
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is a teaching, research and Extension scientific organization focused on agriculture and natural resources. It is a partnership of federal, state, and county governmen ...
''Featured Creatures'' website:
Click beetles, ''Alaus'' spp.
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