Click Beetles (family Elateridae)

One of our spectacular native beetles, the eyed elater ("Alaus oculatus"), photographed in our biodiversity garden on 5 June, 2011

Click beetles, or elaterids, are so-named because they can move their body in such a way as to cause a snap or click that is both forceful and noisy.  The use of their specialized body parts, located on the underside of their body, and a threatening situation, such as being grasped by a predator, brings on the clicking behavior.  The species pictured, the eyed elater, Alaus oculatus, is native to the eastern deciduous forest ecosystem of North America. The eyespots, or false eyes on the thorax also undoubtedly help to deter visually searching predators, such as birds.  This beetle, like many other insects, fungi and other organisms, requires dead wood as habitat.  The larvae live in dead wood on the forest floor, and are predators of other insects, including wood-boring beetle larvae.  When a tree falls, it does not go to waste in nature.  It becomes a new home for native biodiversity such as the eyed elater.  Read more about this beetle on the University of Florida IFAS Extension page.