CLOSED: What is this bug?

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CaptMicha Brookeville, MD(Zone 7a) Jul 25, 2004

Found this guy in my kitchen floor at night! Eek! When I picked him up to put him outside, he clicked and I could hear it and feel it through the paper towel.

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George Valinda, CA(Zone 10a) Jul 25, 2004

It is known as a click bug. That is all I know.

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kennedyh Churchill, Victoria, Australia(Zone 10a) Jul 25, 2004

It is a Click Beetle, from the family Elateridae. These beetles have a mechanism at the joint between the thorax and abdomen, that snaps the joint sharply, making a click, and firing the beetle off the ground. If you hold the beetle between finger and thumb, you will feel it click and it may well succeed in escaping from your grasp. Here is a species very similar to yours, from the genus Conoderus. This one I found in Morwell National Park, here in Australia.

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CaptMicha Brookeville, MD(Zone 7a) Jul 26, 2004

Thanks! I just looked it up, the larvae feed on plants root so I hope we don't have a lot of them.

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raisedbedbob Walkerton, VA(Zone 7a) Jul 26, 2004

Here's another one from right here in Maryland. Thay are really quite harmless. I posted this photo last summer.

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Calalily Deep South Coastal, TX(Zone 10a) Jul 26, 2004

We have a similar bug here called a "fire bug" that has two "headlights" that light up like lightening bugs when they are disturbed. Their eggs glow in the dark and the larvae and adults eat aphids. They also "click" when touched.

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raisedbedbob Walkerton, VA(Zone 7a) Jul 27, 2004

Can you get a picture? LOL! Also, can you catch me a bunch? I'll gladly pay the postage for an aphid eater that glows in the dark!

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BloomsWithaView Moab, UT(Zone 6b) Jul 27, 2004

I can see a thriving business in these glow in the dark aphid killers... better than ladybugs. We have click beetles here in the desert too. The kids like to tip them over to watch them 'click' themselves right side up. tee heee

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shazbot3 Flat Rock, NC(Zone 7b) Jul 27, 2004

Yeah, Calalily. I'll take a gross of those, as well! This place is aphid city! Plus, the kids could really get a science lesson from those things!

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