Day 327 - Crackingly BouncyClick Click Beetles

Click Beetle - well ok, its the larvae, the dreaded (by some) wireworm

Hey everyone, today's Day 327 and I've mentioned before that I have recently been on a walk with Roger Key. He is a Doctor of Entomology and knows an awful lot about insects and bugs. Now, this particular insect that I am covering today is one that I have been looking for for quite a while. When I was on the walk and we found this little creature I was pretty excited when I was told that it was a Click Beetle! They are very interesting creatures and I am looking forward to writing the facts:

• Firstly, when I am saying that this is a Click Beetle in the photo's its not entirely accurate. This is actually the larvae of a Click Beetle. Got some great shots under my microscope!

Great shot of its feet and jaws

• Now, the reason that I have been looking for a Click Beetle for a very long time is because my Mum likes the name. Yep, I don't know why either.

• Well, on the subject of their name, it's actually named after the noise that they make when they jump in the air. 'Click!' 

• Roger mentioned the noise comes from two parts of their body snapping past each other. They do this to jump away from predators or to turn themselves over if they get stuck on their back. You can see this in this video I found on Youtube.

• I am not talking about a specific type of Click Beetle because (similar to yesterday's Caddis Fly) there are 9,300 specific types of Click Beetle.

• Just to show you how widespread they are across the world they are, there are 9,300 species of them but there are only 965 in America.

• The difference in size between some of the species is quite large. The largest is 18mm and just 2.5mm! That's quite small.

• When I say at most 18mm, there is a North American Click Beetle usually grows up to 45mm! That's almost 20 times bigger than the smallest! Y

• These photos, as I said. are of the larvae. They look both like worms and look quite 'wirey'. So, they are named Wireworms.

• Their diet is that of a Butterfly. The adults like to eat the Nectar/Pollen of flowers. The Wireworms like to 'chow down' on roots. 

The best bugs eye view I could get

• This doesn't make them very popular especially with farmers as they can damage potato, carrot onion and other crops. 

• The adults are most commonly seen throughout May and July but you can them all the way to August. Here are some links to some more information:

Bug Facts - Click Beetle

Britannica - Click Beetle

RSPB - Click Beetle

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.