Hey uhhhh quick question. Do you know what a click beetle is? Don't look it up. I mean, go ahead and look it up if you want to, but BEFORE you do, did you know what a click beetle was?
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I saw an eyed click beetle on my property a couple years ago, and I learned about them then. They represent protection and good luck, and also prey on other insects that damage crops. They're pretty cool. Basically a Ghibli bug.
Yes, family Elateridae and I didn’t have to look that up because I have a photographic memory for insect family names I learned when I was like 10 and I think that type of info has blocked new stuff from making it into my brain for about 30 years or so.
Oh yes I remember now the area I lived in at the time was over run by stink bugs and I looked up stink bugs online and then my ADHD started driving and I followed links about bugs for hours. But that wasn’t until I was at least 35
If a child had asked me, I'd have confidently answered "a kind of beetle that makes a clicking noise," but given the context here, I'm guessing I'm wrong and it's more complicated than that?
My lab studies them. (The clicking mechanism). They are fascinating and unique.
Before I vaguely knew about them - even with an EntoPhD.
When I give talks I am always surprised how few people know about them and their behaviors.
This is what I know as a click beetle, and I had to have been between 4-7 when I was first introduced to them (I'm 42). I was that kid who loved bugs and lizards and creepy crawlies! Click beetles were an instant fav because of sound and the jumping.
I learned about them when I was 18 but that’s because I was in an intro engineering class called “Design Nature” where we had to build something that emulated a hopping creature and click beetles were one of the examples.
Sort of. I remember as a kid being told that what I saw was a click beetle, and then it would “click” and go flying WAY away. Not with wings, but like a crazy jump. 🤷🏻♀️
I am in my 30s and have known about click beetles since time immemorial. They were often found in Chicago suburbs when I was a kid, to everyone's great enjoyment
I feel like they have become less common in our area but that might actually be more an effect of spending less time crawling around in the grass and dirt.
That's a very cool beetle that shows up on your Windows login screen, and you want to know more about it, so you click on the learn more link before you enter your credentials. Click beetle.
Once I rescued one of the small black ones out of a spider web in my bedroom because he was clicking so much it got my attention. Bro literally called for help and it came 😂
Well on a "cute beetle I saw in a meme today" level. I wanna say the name comes from the noise they make when jumping but I'd normally look that up before posting
Yes, yes I did know what a click beetle was. Junior horticulturist back in the 80s' - required to learn various insects. One of those was the click beetle.
I didn’t know until now how they are called in English but I was fascinated with them as a kid. We call them “Blacksmith beetles”. Wonderful creatures.
Is this a thing where like...you want us to reply if we know, or is this a rhetorical science communication question? Because I know what they are, but not as much as I would LIKE to. There aren't nearly enough fidget bugs.
Fun fact, my husband and I lived in an old country house that had lots of clock beetles. They would crawl onto our bed at night if the blanket touched the floor. Many nights I was awoken because I touched one and it “clicked” off into the room ha! Fun now. Not so fun at the time.
I first learned about them as a monster (giant click beetles) in early edition D&D when I was in middle school. Then in high school I found out they were a real thing.
I do. But also I couldn’t tell you *when* I learned about them. I want to say I was way younger than 30, but then I remember that was a decade ago so probably I was in my 30s 🙄
Yes, but I didn’t know they were click beetles until I was in my 40s. Everyone I knew called them lightning bugs. They were fun to watch glow. Still are!
There are certainly species that have glowing spots, but “lightning bugs” usually refers to fireflies, which is a different family of beetles altogether.
I encountered an Eyed Elator as a child, so I definitely know what a click beetle is. I've played with the smaller ones a lot, which I'm sure they did not enjoy, but I didn't harm them. One of my favorite beetles.
As noted by a poster below, I first read about them in some variety of spooky gothic setting, can't remember specifically, but I later discovered they were real
Also, since it seems relevant to the discussion, I have known about them since I was, I dunno... about 8 years old? I have memories of finding one while I was in daycare at the YMCA.
Yep. It’s a bit unfair for me to answer since I have a PhD in entomology though! But I did know them by this name since I was about 5, and played with them as a kid all the time.
I don’t know the scientific name, but I’ve certainly held a click beetle. I believe the mechanic is more for jumping than noise. But the noise is a bonus
Yes I do! But I only learned about them when, as an adult, I encountered them in the wild. My first @inaturalist.bsky.social observation is from 2012, but I really absorbed the name "click beetle" when I saw an Eastern Eyed Click Beetle in 2019. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26041387
I hate to tell you this, but that is actually a jewel beetle (aka metallic woodborer), family Buprestidae, from Madagascar. Click beetles are in the family Elateridae.
Don't hate to tell me the proper identification of bugs! I appreciate the information :D it doesn't make my dead bug any less neat and I don't love it any less.
Ok , good! I think I have that species, Lampropepla rothschildi, pretty sure, in my own collection. I would have purchased it like you may have, and retained it after donating the bulk of my collection to Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Elateridae (always mix them up with Buprestidae for some reason). Some species (the eyed elaters) are pretty interesting because the black eyespots on their thorax use a combination of light absorbing pigment and light baffling microscopic structure
I love them! Since I was a child I’d gently hold a finger down on them until they got annoyed and did the click. And now Bluesky knows I’m a bug fan who will annoy a bug for my own amusement.
I've always been fascinated by them. Found one on a hilltop while on a school trip when I was 9, maybe 10, couldn't understand why everyone else wasn't as delighted as I was. Last one I saw was this past Autumn in the garden.
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Fascinating insects!
Before I vaguely knew about them - even with an EntoPhD.
When I give talks I am always surprised how few people know about them and their behaviors.
The big grey ones are fun
1. because they are super neat (and fun to gently hassle)
2. because some click beetle larvae are "wire worms" in my garden
*click* *FLIP*
Yes I googled after to confirm this was correct.
BUT my kiddo also likes being read The Clumsy Click Beetle.
QUICK! CLICK AND FLIP!
And I love that name.
In English they are also known as fireflies
That is a great name too!
*duckduckgos* Well, guess they do. But also I could probably only name like five beetles before that search, so…
Loved sticking 'em on their backs and watching them snap back upright when I was a kid.
[googles] oh yeah no definitely not. guess I know what wikipedia article I'm reading in bed tonight! neat little critters...
I like the big eastern eyed click beetles; they look crazy when they fly.
Also check out the moth vids...amazing!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2rQ8tRK2Y5w
Other question: why do they click? Not great for escape, they often don’t end up right-side-up, etc. 🤷🏻♀️
We use engineering-informed approaches to answer these biological questions.
It's like staring into the void
Very effective!
I'm from the southeastern US.