Click beetle
745238
225221032
2008-07-12T15:12:44Z
SmackBot
433328
Date the maintenance tags or general fixes
{{Refimprove|date=July 2008}}
{{Taxobox
| name = Click beetles
| image = ElateridAdLarvae.jpg
| image_caption = Click beetle adults and larvae or wireworms
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Arthropod]]a
| classis = [[Insect]]a
| ordo = [[Beetle|Coleoptera]]
| superfamilia = [[Elateroidea]]
| familia = '''Elateridae'''
| familia_authority = [[William Elford Leach|Leach]], 1815
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision =
''Many: see text''
}}
{{wikispecies|Elateridae}}
'''Click beetles''' ([[family (biology)|family]] '''Elateridae'''), sometimes called ''elaters'', ''skipjacks'', ''snapping beetles'', or ''spring beetles'', are a [[cosmopolitan distribution|cosmopolitan]] 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" which 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 7000 known species.
Click beetles can be large and colorful(some are brilliant metallic green), but most are small to medium-sized (<2 [[centimetre|cm]]) and dull. The adults are typically [[nocturnal]] and [[phytophagous]]. In hot weather, they are prone to enter people's houses at night if entries or [[window]]s are left opened. The larvae of a few species, called '''wireworms''', can be serious pests of corn and other grains, especially after a field has been left fallow. Some species are bioluminescent in both larvae and adult forms, such as [[Pyrophorus (beetle)|Pyrophorus]].
Wireworms are slender, elongate, cylindrical or somewhat flattened, and relatively hard-shelled for larvae. The three pairs of legs on the [[thorax|thoracic]] segments are short and the last [[abdominal segment]] is, as is frequently the case in [[beetle]] grubs, directed downwards to serve as a terminal proleg. The posterior end of the body is acutely pointed in the larvae of the species of ''[[Agriotes]]'' that are the best known of the wireworms, but in another common form (the grub of ''[[Athous haemorrhoidalis]]'') the tail is bifid and beset with sharp processes. They may pass two or three years in the [[soil]], feeding on the [[root]]s of plants, and they often cause much damage to farm crops of all kinds, especially [[cereal]]s. The subterranean habits of wireworms make it hard to exterminate them when they have once begun to attack a crop, and the most hopeful practice is, by rotation and by proper treatment of the land, to clear it of the insects before sowing. Passing easily through the soil on account of their shape, wireworms travel from plant to plant, and thus injure the roots of a large number in a short time. Other subterranean creatures such as the leather-jacket grub of [[Tipulidae|crane flie]]s which have no legs, and [[geophilid]] [[centipede]]s, which may have over two hundred, are often confounded with the six-legged wireworms.
Larvae of some Brazilian savanna species of click beetles live in burrows scattered over the surfaces of termite mounds using their bioluminescence to attract flying prey.<ref>[http://classes.kumc.edu/grants/dpc/develop/AdvModsBiolumViviani.asp Digital Photobiology Compendium<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Genera==
[[Image:Eyed Click Beetle Alaus oculatus 056428.jpg|thumb|right|Eyed click beetle ''Alaus oculatus'']]
[[Image:Schnellkaefer ruecken.jpg|thumb|right|''Adelocera murina'' on its back, with the click mechanism visible]]
[[Image:Schnellkaefer auf Ast.jpg|thumb|right|''Adelocera murina'' on a branch]]
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break}}
*''[[Actenicerus]]''
*''[[Adelocera]]''
*''[[Adrastus (genus)|Adrastus]]''
*''[[Aeoloderma]]''
*''[[Aeoloides]]''
*''[[Aeolus (genus)|Aeolus]]
*''[[Agriotes]]
*''[[Agrypnus]]''
*''[[Alaus]]
*''[[Ampedus]]''
*''[[Anchastus]]
*''[[Anostirus]]''
*''[[Aplotarsus]]''
*''[[Athous]]''
*''[[Berninelsonius]]''
*''[[Betarmon]]''
*''[[Brachygonus]]''
*''[[Brachylacon]]
*''[[Calambus]]''
*''[[Cardiophorus]]''
*''[[Chalcolepidus]]
*''[[Cidnopus]]''
*''[[Conoderus]]
*''[[Craspedostethus]]''
*''[[Crepidophorus]]''
*''[[Ctenicera]]''
*''[[Dacnitus]]
*''[[Dalopius]]''
*''[[Danosoma]]''
*''[[Denticollis]]''
*''[[Diacanthous]]''
*''[[Dicronychus]]''
*''[[Dima (genus)|Dima]]''
*''[[Drasterius]]''
*''[[Eanus]]''
*''[[Ectamenogonus]]''
*''[[Ectinus]]''
*''[[Elater (genus)|Elater]]''
*''[[Elathous]]''
*''[[Eopenthes]]
*''[[Fleutiauxellus]]''
*''[[Haterumelater]]''
*''[[Hemicleus]]''
*''[[Hemicrepidius]]''
*''[[Heteroderes]]''
*''[[Horistonotus]]
*''[[Hypnoidus]]''
{{col-break}}
*''[[Hypoganus]]''
*''[[Hypolithus]]
*''[[Idolus]]''
*''[[Idotarmonides]]''
*''[[Ischnodes]]''
*''[[Isidus]]''
*''[[Itodacne]]
*''[[Jonthadocerus]]''
*''[[Lacon (genus)|Lacon]]
*''[[Lanelater]]''
*''[[Limoniscus]]''
*''[[Limonius]]''
*''[[Liotrichus]]''
*''[[Megapenthes (genus)|Megapenthes]]''
*''[[Melanotus]]
*''[[Melanoxanthus]]
*''[[Metanomus]]''
*''[[Mulsanteus]]''
*''[[Negastrius]]''
*''[[Neopristilophus]]''
*''[[Nothodes]]''
*''[[Oedostethus]]''
*''[[Orithales]]''
*''[[Paracardiophorus]]''
*''[[Paraphotistus]]''
*''[[Peripontius]]''
*''[[Pheletes]]''
*''[[Pittonotus]]''
*''[[Pityobius]]
*''[[Plastocerus]]''
*''[[Podeonius]]''
*''[[Porthmidius]]''
*''[[Procraerus]]''
*''[[Prodrasterius]]
*''[[Prosternon]]''
*''[[Pseudanostirus]]''
*''[[Pyrophorus (beetle)|Pyrophorus]]
*''[[Quasimus]]''
*''[[Reitterelater]]''
*''[[Selatosomus]]''
*''[[Sericus]]''
*''[[Simodactylus]]
*''[[Spheniscosomus]]''
*''[[Stenagostus]]''
*''[[Synaptus]]''
*''[[Tetrigus]]''
*''[[Zorochros]]''
{{col-end}}
{{listdev}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{1911}}
[[Category:Beetles]]
[[Category:Elateridae| ]]
[[da:Smældere]]
[[de:Schnellkäfer]]
[[et:Naksurlased]]
[[es:Elateridae]]
[[fr:Elateridae]]
[[lt:Sprakšiai]]
[[nl:Kniptorren]]
[[ja:コメツキムシ]]
[[no:Smellere]]
[[pl:Sprężykowate]]
[[pt:Vaga-lume]]
[[ru:Щелкуны]]
[[fi:Sepät]]
[[uk:Ковалики]]