| Elater acutus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Elateridae |
| Genus: | Elater |
| Species: | E. acutus |
| Binomial name | |
| Elater acutus (Candèze, 1863) | |
Elater acutus is a species of click beetle in the family Elateridae. [1]
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.
Pyrophorus is a genus of click beetle. They are one of several genera in the tribe Pyrophorini, all of which are bioluminescent. Their bioluminescence is similar to that of another group of beetles, the fireflies, although click beetles do not flash, but remain constantly glowing. They have two luminescent spots at the posterior corners of the pronotum, and another brighter light organ on the most-anterior surface of the ventral abdomen. This light organ is even brighter and can only be seen when in flight. Bioluminescent click beetles are found throughout tropical, subtropical and temperate America. Species from Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Cuba are now in different genera in the tribe Pyrophorini, such as Deilelater and Ignelater.
Ernest Charles Auguste Candèze was a Belgian doctor and entomologist who was born 22 February 1827 at Liège and died in Glain, 30 June 1898. He studied in Liège under Jean Theodore Lacordaire (1801–1870), then studied medicine in Paris and Liège. Following Lacordaire's advice he joined the circle of entomologists in Liège which included his longtime friend Félicien Chapuis (1824–1879) as well as Edmond de Sélys Longchamps (1813–1900) and the English entomologist Robert McLachlan (1837–1904). He took part in the foundation of the Belgian Entomological Society. Lacordaire encouraged him to specialize in Elateridae on which he published revisions of which the very rare Monographie of Elateridae is important. He was a friend of the French editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel (1814–1886) who pressed him to write scientific novels in order to popularize entomology to a larger audience: Aventures d'un grillon, Adventures of a cricket, La Gileppe, les infortunes d'une population d'insectes, Gileppe, misfortunes of a population of insects, which had a certain success, and Périnette, histoire surprenante de cinq moineaux... Périnette, surprising history of five sparrows.... Also impassioned by photography, he developed a foldable camera which was a great success in Europe
Selasia is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Elateridae, having historically been placed in the family "Drilidae", which was recently subsumed by Elateridae.
Actenicerus siaelandicus is a species of click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae, subfamily Dendrometrinae.
Agrypnus murinus is a species of click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae subfamily Agrypninae.
Denticollis linearis is a species of click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae subfamily Dendrometrinae.
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.
Eucnemidae, or false click beetles, are a family of elateroid beetles including about 1700 species distributed worldwide.
Cardiophorus is a genus of click beetles.
Elaterinae is a subfamily of click beetles in the family Elateridae, containing 12 tribes worldwide.
Agrypninae is a subfamily of click beetles in the family Elateridae. There are at least 130 genera and more than 430 described species in Agrypninae.
Ignelater is a genus of click beetle. They are one of several genera in the tribe Pyrophorini, all of which are bioluminescent. This genus was established by Cleide Costa in 1975. Most of the species were formerly in the genus Pyrophorus.
The Pyrophorini are a New World taxonomic tribe within the Elateridae subfamily Agrypninae. Pyrophorini is a tribe of bioluminescent beetles, and includes such genera as Pyrophorus and Ignelater.
Campyloxenus is a bioluminescent genus of click beetles in the family Elateridae, and had been the sole member of the subfamily Campyloxeninae, until another monotypic genus Malalcahuello was described from Chile in 2015 as its new member. There is one described species in Campyloxenus, Campyloxenus pyrothorax, from southwestern Chile and Argentina.
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.
Adelocera is a genus of beetles belonging to the family Elateridae.
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