# found a black "click" beetle



## lionsden112002 (Oct 9, 2007)

Found a really shiny black click beetle yesterday.

The thing is hinged in the middle and will click to upright itself when tipped over. Has some deadly looking pincers on the mouth.

Any comments on keeping these or what it may be called in your area.

KEN


----------



## AFK (Oct 13, 2007)

click beetle with large mandibles? i've never heard of one. it may have been a cebrionid beetle (family cebrionidae) instead, but i don't recall cebrionids actually having that clicking ability, although from the surface they do look like click beetles with enlarged mandibles.


----------



## AFK (Oct 14, 2007)

apparently, cebrionid beetles are now considered a subfamily of elateridae lol


----------



## AFK (Oct 14, 2007)

this is the book i used to have (wish i hadn't lost it):

http://books.google.com/books?id=S9IK9OMju...HLcuE#PPA173,M1

page 173 has a drawing of a cebrionid beetle. was that it? they're pretty rare over where i am and i've only ever seen one once in my life.


----------



## lionsden112002 (Oct 15, 2007)

AFK said:


> this is the book i used to have (wish i hadn't lost it):http://books.google.com/books?id=S9IK9OMju...HLcuE#PPA173,M1
> 
> page 173 has a drawing of a cebrionid beetle. was that it? they're pretty rare over where i am and i've only ever seen one once in my life.


NO not it. :blink: 

Family Carabidae (Ground Beetles)

Subfamily Scaritinae

Tribe Scaritini

Genus Scarites

Did I say Cebrionid? I meant to say Carabidae. LOL What a hoot. I looked at your profile to see were you are. I have heard what I found called a click bug but it really isn't.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/2990

I found pictures of what I found.

Cheers.


----------



## AFK (Oct 17, 2007)

i'm pretty sure ground beetles aren't "hinged in the middle and will click to upright itself when tipped over." the only beetles like that are click beetles (elateridae)


----------



## lionsden112002 (Oct 17, 2007)

You are right. When I catured it it made some "evasive" moves that where similar to "clicking" I have heard "click" beetle and made that mistaken id.

This beetle is supposed to eat insects? Do you know what kind?

It has killed a cricket but it doesn't look eaten.

Will these eat dead insects

http://bugguide.net/node/view/2990

Thanks,

If I do find a real click beetle I will check back in.


----------



## AFK (Oct 18, 2007)

ground beetles in general are hunters and may take raw meat if it happens to _stumble _upon it and TASTES it, just like mantids and most other carnivores in nature. most ground beetles prefer soft-bodied prey, e.g. caterpillars, but nonetheless generally have a mixed diet of all sorts of invertebrates and sometimes small amounts of vegetable matter. i suspect that ground beetle preferences also vary by species, but i do know that certain specific specifies are specialized hunters of very specific kind of prey, e.g. snails, toxic millipedes, etc. in other words, if you don't have pics or know what species yours is, you'll have to resort to trial and error. if your beetle is also stressed out, it may not feed too, so give it plenty of hiding places and a large surface area to roam about and give it time to settle in. also know that most ground beetles (except tiger beetles) are nocturnal.

another thing: are you SURE this is a ground beetle? that genus is often mistaken for other kinds of beetles, e.g. female stag beetles, bessbugs, certain bark beetles, etc.


----------

