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Elateridae or click beetles are family of beetles. 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 other families of Elateroidea 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.
Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also occurs in the families Elateridae, Phengodidae, and Rhagophthalmidae among beetles; as well as members of the genera Arachnocampa, Keroplatus, and Orfelia among keroplatid fungus gnats.
The Elateroidea are a large superfamily of beetles. It contains the familiar click beetles, fireflies, and soldier beetles and their relatives.
The Cerophytidae are a family of Coleoptera known as the rare click beetles. Adults are infrequently encountered, and larvae are found within wood, where they are believed to feed on fungi. The family contains 22 species in four genera, primarily distributed in the New World:
The Rhagophthalmidae are a family of beetles within the superfamily Elateroidea. Members of this beetle family have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, and sometimes adults, and are closely related to the Phengodidae, though historically they have been often treated as a subfamily of Lampyridae, or as related to that family. Some recent evidence suggested that they were the sister group to the Phengodidae, and somewhat distantly related to Lampyridae, whose sister taxon was Cantharidae, but more reliable genome-based phylogenetics placed as the sister group to the Lampyridae.
Zorochros is a genus of click beetles, found chiefly in sand on the banks of rivers and streams.
Selasia is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Elateridae.
The minute tree-fungus beetles, family Ciidae, are a sizeable group of beetles which inhabit Polyporales bracket fungi or coarse woody debris. Most numerous in warmer regions, they are nonetheless widespread and a considerable number of species occur as far polewards as Scandinavia for example.
The Brazilian gold frog, also known as Izecksohn's toad or flea-frog, is a very small species of frogs in the family Brachycephalidae. It is endemic to southeastern Brazil and is known from the central part of the state of Rio de Janeiro and from Serra das Torres in extreme southern Espírito Santo.
Plastocerus is a genus of click beetles, the sole member of the subfamily Plastocerinae; while it has historically often been ranked as a family, the genus is now placed firmly within the family Elateridae.
Drilini is a tribe of beetles known commonly as the false firefly beetles, in the family Elateridae.
Pheletes is a genus of click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae.
Tetralimonius quercus is a species of click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae, formerly placed in the genus Pheletes.
Aulonothroscus is a genus of small false click beetles in the family Throscidae. There are more than 20 described species in Aulonothroscus.
Eumolpini is a tribe of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It is the largest tribe in the subfamily, with approximately 170 genera found worldwide. Members of the tribe almost always have a longitudinal median groove on the pygidium, which possibly helps to keep the elytra locked at rest. They also generally have a subglabrous body, as well as appendiculate pretarsal claws.
Trixagus is a genus of small false click beetles in the family Throscidae. There are more than 30 described species in Trixagus.
Dematochroma is a genus of leaf beetles in the subfamily Eumolpinae. It is mostly distributed in New Caledonia, though it is also found on Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and Timor. Adult beetles are often found at night feeding on leaves, and the larvae eat roots. It is possible the genus is polyphyletic or paraphyletic.
Lissominae is a subfamily of click beetles in the family Elateridae. There are about 11 genera in Lissominae.
Sinopyrophorus is a genus of bioluminescent hard-bodied clicking beetles in the superfamily Elateroidea, and is the sole member of the recently recognized family Sinopyrophoridae. The genus currently contains a single species, Sinopyrophorus schimmeli, which was described in 2019 from the subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests of western Yunnan, China.
Amychus manawatawhi, commonly known as the Three Kings click beetle, is a large flightless click beetle in the family Elateridae, found only on the Three Kings Islands of New Zealand.
References
- ↑ Costa, C. (1984) Note on the bioluminescence of Balgus schnusei (Heller, 1914) (Trixagidae, Coleoptera). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 28: 397–398.
- ↑ Barbosa, F.F. (2016) Revision and phylogeny of the genus Balgus Fleutiaux, 1920 (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Thylacosterninae). Zootaxa 4083(4): 451–482. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4083.4.1