Elateridae or click beetles are a 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. It consists of about 25,000 species.
Graphoderus zonatus is a species of beetle in family Dytiscidae. It is found in Austria, Belarus, Belgium, England, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, mainland Denmark, Estonia, Finland, mainland France, Germany, Hungary, mainland Italy, Kaliningrad, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, mainland Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.
Chalcolepidius is a genus of beetles in the family Elateridae.
Chalcolepidius limbatus is a species of beetles in the family Elateridae.
Chalcolepidius porcatus is a species of beetles in the family Elateridae.
Chalcolepidius virens is a species of beetles in the family Elateridae.
Pyrophorus punctatissimus is a species of click beetle.
Pyrophorus tuberculifer is a species of click beetle.
Pyrearinus candelarius is a species of click beetle.
Semiotus distinctus is a species of beetle belonging to the family Elateridae from South America.
Semiotus imperialis is a species of beetle belonging to the family Elateridae from South America.
Semiotus is a genus of beetle belonging to the family Elateridae. It includes about 85 large sized (14–48 mm) and colourful click beetles with bright integument. The colouration is usually yellow with longitudinal black, orange or reddish stripes. The Neotropical genus occurs from Mexico to Argentina and Chile.
Drilini is a tribe of beetles known commonly as the false firefly beetles, in the family Elateridae.
Alaus is a genus of click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae. Unlike many click beetles, Alaus larvae are completely predatory.
Cardiosyne is an extinct genus of beetles from the Triassic of Argentina. It was originally tentatively classified in Elateridae, but in 2020 it was transferred to Coleoptera incertae sedis.
Gelanor is a genus of spiders in the family Mimetidae, found in Central and South America.
Cerrena zonata is a species of poroid fungus in the genus Cerrena.
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.
