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Click Beetles!

Insects in the family Elateridae are commonly called click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related Cerophytidae and Eucnemidae). 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.

Source: Wikipedia

Posted on June 21, 2016 07:52 PM by chlorophilia chlorophilia | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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This community bioblitz is aimed at the collection of click beetles, a diverse group of beetle (Elateridae) that is poorly understood. We will document all arthropods collected at this event and use the iNaturalist platform to identify species, before separating and submitting our click beetle specimens to researchers, toward better understanding of click beetle diversity.

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chlorophilia created this project on June 21, 2016
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