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.
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.
Cleroidea is a small superfamily of beetles containing over 10,000 species. Most of the members of the group are somewhat slender, often with fairly soft, flexible elytra, and typically hairy or scaly.
Byrrhoidea is a superfamily of beetles belonging to Elateriformia that includes several families which are either aquatic or associated with a semi-aquatic habitat. Other than the superfamily Hydrophiloidea, most of the remaining Polyphagan beetles which are aquatic are in this superfamily.
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.
The Ototretinae are a small subfamily in the firefly family (Lampyridae). They are close to the Luciolinae in some respects, but do not glow or flash. Rather, they attract their partners with pheromones like many relatives of the firefly family. They are found in Eurasia and North America.
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.
Rhinorhipus is a genus of beetles that contains a single species, Rhinorhipus tamborinensis from southern Queensland, Australia. It is the sole member of the family Rhinorhipidae and superfamily Rhinorhipoidea. It is an isolated lineage not closely related to any other living beetle, estimated to have split from other beetles at least 200 million years ago, with studies either considering them the earliest diverging member of Elateriformia, or a basal lineage within Polyphaga. They exhibit feigning death (thanatosis) when disturbed. Their ecology is poorly known. It is likely that they are fossorial based on their morphology.
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.
Omethidae is a family of Elateroidea sometimes known as the false soldier beetles. They are native to South, Southeast and Eastern Asia and the Americas. Their biology is obscure and their larvae are unknown. They appear to inhabit vegetation in or surrounding forests, and are probably active during the day.
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.
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.
Oestodinae is a subfamily of click beetles in the family Elateridae. There are at least two genera in Oestodinae.
Pityobiinae is a subfamily of click beetles in the family Elateridae. There are at least two genera and two described species in Pityobiinae.
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.
Dendrometrini is a tribe of click beetles in the family Elateridae, including some formerly recognized subfamily or tribal-rank groups such as Athoinae, Denticollinae, and Hemicrepidiini now all reduced to subtribal rank.
The Lycini is a species-rich beetle tribe belonging to the subfamily Lycinae
Telegeusinae is a small subfamily of beetles in the family Omethidae recognizable by enlarged palpi found in males. Though relatively rare, males are sometimes found in large numbers in black light traps. Females are not known in this group, but it is theorized that females are larviform as found in many closely related taxa.
