Sometimes when we go to the woods around Hilton Pond Center, we get the eerie feeling that someone--or something--is watching US while we're watching nature. Occasionally, however, the beady little eyes that are staring at us aren't eyes after all--as is the case with the Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus).

Nearly two inches long and found across the eastern U.S. as far west as Texas, this gray and black and white insect is one of the largest members of the Click Beetle Family (Elateridae); the huge eyespots on its pronotum make it one of the most easily identified. These are "false eyes," of course--likely an adaptation to scare off potential predators. The true eyes of the Eyed Click Beetle are much smaller and located at the bases of its heavily sawtoothed antennae (below left).

Few of the 800 or so North American Click Beetles are as dramatically marked as the Eyed Click Beetle. Most are considerably smaller (a half-inch long or less) and without distinctive markings. Several uniformly brown or black species are frequently seen around porch lights.

Despite their differences in appearance, all Click Beetles have a startling behavior that demonstrates how they got their primary name--as well as the alternate names of "snapping beetle," "skipjack," and "spring beetle." When placed on its back--or when grabbed by an insectivore--a Click Beetle bends its head and prothorax backward and then straightens out suddenly with a snapping motion, which results in an audible click and launches the beetle several inches into the air. This stunt is facilitated by a spine on the underside of the prosternum that fits into a groove in the mesosternum (below).

Occasionally, a Click Beetle will take flight during its midair maneuver, but more often it simply falls back to earth. If it lands on its back, the beetle may "click" again, or it may tightly tuck its legs and antennae and "play possum" until the predator loses interest. Eventually, it will wander off, perhaps looking for food (flower nectar or leaf sap) or a mate.

Click Beetles--like bees, ants, butterflies, and some other insect orders--undergo a four-stage (complete) metamorphosis that includes the egg, larva (AKA "grub"), pupa, and adult. Although adults are harmless, Click Beetle larvae cause significant agricultural and horticultural damage. Click Beetle grubs--also known as "wireworms" because of their elongated shape and hard exoskeletons (above right)--live in soil or dead wood for two to ten years, depending on the species. During that time, they chow down on roots and stems-- including those attached to corn, potatoes, tobacco, turf grasses, garden ornamentals, and a variety of legumes.

We don't grow any of these plants at Hilton Pond Center, of course, so we're content to let wireworms go about their subterranean business and, as they mature, to delight us with the acrobatic antics of adult Eyed Click Beetles.

Chestnut-sided Warbler--1
Magnolia Warbler--1
American Redstart--4
Black-throated Green Warbler--1
Chipping Sparrow--2
American Goldfinch--3
Canada Warbler--2
Eastern Phoebe--2
Blackpoll Warbler--2
Acadian Flycatcher--1
Black-and-white Warbler--2
Pine Warbler--1
Common Yellowthroat--1
Indigo Bunting--2
Red-eyed Vireo--4
Northern Waterthrush--3
Northern Cardinal--1
Gray Catbird--5
Wood Thrush--1
Eastern (Rufous-sided) Towhee--2*
Eastern Tufted Titmouse--1
Brown-headed Cowbird--1
Eastern Bluebird--9 (nestlings)
Swainson's Thrush--3
Gray-cheeked Thrush--1
American Robin--1

* = At least one Recent Fledgling

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