clicker bug??

[fangsalot]

ok i found this bug outside on my car tire..its a giant "clicker" bug(well i call them clicker bugs.its those bugs that bend back, and pop up to rite themselves.what is the correct name for these beetles??pics coming soon..

 

[dtknow]

click beetle

 

[fangsalot]

i found what kind of click beetle it is.its a eyed elater.can it be kept in captivity with some success?its beautiful.it has beutiful yellow specs all over.what does it eat?any good info/

 

[Scorpendra]

i just googled it, and adult click beetles eat flower nectar while their larvae eat grains.

 

[Mat]

i just googled it, and adult click beetles eat flower nectar while their larvae eat grains.

Larval click beetles eat a lot of different things, it depends on the species. Some are agricultural pests, hence the reference to grains. A lot of the large species are probably predatory on other inverts in the wood mould in hollow trees and branches

 

[Elizabeth]

That was such an interesting idea that the wireworms may be predacious that I went looking. The click beetle family is large and does contain grain-pest wireworms, as well as non-pest ones. They eat a lot of things. And sure enough, on some of the sites, some of the wireworms eat other grubs! Thanks, Mat! That was something new for me. Here's some eyed elaters whose larvae do just that:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN242


However, I could only find references that the adults eat plant material: flower nectar or leaves, one site said. If you are going to keep the adult, try to match exactly which of the eyed elaters it is, and then good luck finding info on its adult eating habits. You could also put a variety of things in with it. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Dark Raptor]

As Mat mentioned, larvae can use many types of food.
In Europe, one of the most interesting and rarest species is Elater ferrugineus. They are specialized predators and attack Osmoderma eremita larvae.

Very interesting article about that topic:
Svensson, Glenn P.; Larsson, Mattias C.; Hedin, Jonas 2004: Attraction of the Larval Predator Elater ferrugineus to the Sex Pheromone of Its Prey, Osmoderma eremita, and Its Implication for Conservation Biology. Volume: 30, Issue: 2, pp. 353 - 363

A lot of information about keeping 'soil' species you can find in:
Burakowski B., 1993: Laboratory methods for rearing soil beetles (Coleoptera). Polska Akademia Nauk Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii, Warszawa.