Click Beetle

Click beetles make up the family Elateridae, a cosmopolitan group also known as elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or skipjacks, first defined by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815. About 9,300 species are known worldwide, including 965 valid species in North America. The family is named for an unusual clicking mechanism, in which a spine on the underside of the thorax snaps into a matching notch, producing a sharp click that can flip the beetle into the air; the purpose of the click is debated, with proposed explanations including predator deterrence, communication, or simply helping a pupating beetle free itself from the substrate.