I found this guy on my back porch around 8:30 am... I tried pushing it from behind to make it fly away, but he barely moved... Then my 13 month old nephew picked it up while I wasn't looking and when I put it down it played dead... It was still out there about an hour later when I went back out to take a picture... After I snapped the first pic, it flipped back over onto its legs
This is an unusually colorful click beetle - most species in this family (Elateridae) are rather dull in color - see http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/click_beetles_subfamily_elaterinae for some examples.
That's what my mom thought :) Thank u :) I just couldn't find one w/his markings
I must confess to having made a serious error here - I allowed myself to be swayed by the description of the insect righting itself combined with its general shape, and didn't look closely enough. It actually is in the family Buprestidae (metallic wood borers), subfamily Polycestinae, which includes many species with markings similar to yours. I really should have remembered, as I can recall collecting members of this subfamily in extreme southeastern North Dakota 50+ years ago...
