The eyed click beetle, or eyed elater (Alaus oculatus), is one of many species of click beetles.
Jim Rathert
Eyed Click Beetle (Eyed Elater)
Alaus oculatus
Other Common Name:
Eastern Eyed Click Beetle
Family:
Elateridae (click beetles) in the order Coleoptera (beetles)
Description:
The eyed click beetle, or eyed elater, is common in the eastern part of our country. It lives in deciduous forests, where the larvae grow in decaying logs, preying on longhorn beetle grubs. The adults can be 1¾ inches long.
The eyespots on the pronotum make predators hesitate to attack. The click beetle’s real eyes are much smaller and positioned behind the antennae, on the insect’s true head.
Close relatives of this species live to the south and west of our state. Learn more about the eyed elater and other click beetles in their family page.
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Eyed Click Beetle
The eyed click beetle is only one of about 1,000 species of click beetles in North America. Most of the others are drab in comparison.
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Eyed Click Beetle in Springfield, MO
Eyed Click Beetle (Eyed Elater)
User submitted photo
Similar Species
Click Beetles
Approximately 1,000 species in North America
Stag Beetles
About 40 species in North America north of Mexico
Scarab Beetles
About 1,700 species in North America north of Mexico
Ground Beetles
About 2,400 species in North America north of Mexico
Oil Beetles
Meloe spp.
Four-Humped Flat-Faced Longhorn
Acanthoderes quadrigibba
Longhorned Beetles (Borers; Sawyer Beetles)
About 1,000 species in North America north of Mexico
Asian Longhorned Beetle
Anoplophora glabripennis
American Carrion Beetle
Necrophila americana
Elm Borer
Saperda tridentata
About Land Invertebrates in Missouri
Invertebrates are animals without backbones, including earthworms, slugs, snails, and arthropods. Arthropods—invertebrates with “jointed legs” — are a group of invertebrates that includes crayfish, shrimp, millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, and insects. There may be as many as 10 million species of insects alive on earth today, and they probably constitute more than 90 percent all animal species.