Large Click Beetle
Aplastus ?
Observed in Reynold's Canyon, Sierra Ancha, Gila Co., Arizona, USA. 5 August 2010.
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The vast majority of click beetles are much smaller than this specimen. If a click beetle comes to rest with its dorsum facing down and its legs helplessly floundering in the air it can attempt to right itself by explosively folding itself with an audible click and launching into the air.
The adult beetle is preceeded by the larval stage which inhabits the soil or rotten logs. There the insects are known as wire-worms. The food of the larvae is decomposing plant matter and sometimes the roots of plants.