The click beetle is a handsome man with bad habits

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

If plants in your garden suddenly stop bearing fruit or simply die for an unknown reason, then some kind of pest has wound up on your land. Amateur gardeners who encounter this problem claim that either the wireworm larvae or their parent, the click beetle, is to blame. This oblong insect has a dark brown color with a metallic sheen on the shell. The bottom of the wings has a pointed conical shape, from the side similar to a conductor's tailcoat, which gives some sophistication and elegance to the representatives of this species.

Click beetle habitats

This type of insect lives wherever natural conditions allow it, except for places of permafrost. The most diverse species of such an insect as the click beetle prevail in South America, Africa, and tropical places. Depending on their place of residence, the color and uncomplicated pattern on the elytra change, accompanied by various colorful shades. In nature, there are individuals of different sizes, ranging from small to very large.

Distinguishing feature

The click beetle has an amazing ability to jump, making the characteristic click of a mechanical shutter. He does this in order to turn his body to its normal position, since due to short legs he can lose his balance. The length of adults is from 10 to 20 mm. The insect develops slowly - from 3 to 5 years.

Stages of development of the click beetle

Just like other representatives of the insect world, in early spring, the click beetle (female) lays white eggs (3-5 each) in cracks in the soil, under heaps of weeds or under small lumps of earth. She makes such clutches of 30 or 40 pieces. A month later, larvae appear from the testicles. Growing up, they become elongated in shape and very thin. The color of the larvae is golden brown with a brilliant tint. In the common people, we call them wireworms because of their similarity to copper wire. They prefer to spend winter in moderately moist and warm soil. In autumn, when the ground freezes, they go to deeper places, and in spring they begin to creep up to the surface. In the summer, garden plots become their second home.

Bioluminescence of click beetles

This concept suggests that some of their species are capable of emitting light. The organs of luminescence in beetles are located under a thin cuticle, and they were formed with the help of large phytogenic cells filled with microparticles of uric acid and abundantly intertwined with nerves and tracheae. They carry oxygenrequired for oxidative processes. Kukuho is a representative of this species of insects, which has the highest brightness of the glow. It can be used as a night light, and some Native American tribes attach this little "light" to their feet when they go hunting at night.

Sowing dark beetle

The sowing dark click beetle, the photo of which you see on the right, belongs to the order Coleoptera. It has a brown color with a grayish tint and reaches a size of up to 9 mm. This species lives in the mountainous parts of the western regions, as well as in the northern forest-steppe. Destroys root crops, corn and vegetable crops. Uniformly colored cylindrical larvae reach 28 mm.

Spends the winter in the ground at a great depth, reaching up to 80 cm. It leaves its winter shelter at the end of May and stays on the ground until mid-June. Prefers heavy clay soil.