Click Beetles of Zihuatanejo

FAMILY ELATERIDAE

• Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

• Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

• Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

• Insects (Class Insecta)

• Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

• Beetles (Order Coleoptera​​)

• Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf, and Snout Beetles (Suborder Polyphaga)

• Elateriform Beetles (Infraorder Elateriformia)

• Click, Firefly, and Soldier Beetles (Superfamily Elateroidea)

• Click Beetles (Family Elateridae)

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Family Elateridae comprises the click beetles, a large and widespread family of beetles in the order Coleoptera containing more than 10,000 described species worldwide. Click beetles are best known for their unique clicking mechanism, in which a specialized spine on the thorax snaps into a groove on the body, producing an audible click and launching the beetle into the air. This adaptation helps them escape predators and right themselves when overturned. Adults are typically slender, elongated beetles with parallel-sided bodies and are usually brown, black, grey, or reddish.