Click Beetles: The Eyed Click Beetle and Wireworms
A click beetle is a long, narrow beetle (family Elateridae) that snaps a spine on its underside into a groove with an audible click, flipping itself into the air when it lands on its back; adults are harmless to people and houses. Virginia Cooperative Extension says adults do not bite or sting and feed on nectar and pollen. The pest is the larva, the wireworm, which tunnels into potatoes, carrots and seeds in gardens and fields. The large eyed click beetle’s larva does the opposite: it eats wood-boring grubs.
Most click beetles are 6 to 19 mm long (a quarter to three quarters of an inch) and plain brown or black, so people mainly notice two: the eastern eyed click beetle, which is big and has two staring false eyes on its back, and whichever small brown one just snapped out of their hand at the porch light.
What did you find, and does it matter?
| What you found | What it is | Does it matter? | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small brown or black beetle at the porch light that clicks and flips | Adult click beetle, usually 6 to 19 mm | No; a summer nuisance at most | Reduce outdoor lighting |
| A click beetle indoors | Adult that came in towards a light | No; wireworms live in soil, not houses | Vacuum it or put it outside; check screens and door seals |
| Big black and white beetle with two “eyes” on its back | Eastern eyed click beetle, 24 to 45 mm | No; harmless, though it can nip if handled roughly | Leave it |
| Thin, shiny, hard yellowish “worms” in potatoes or carrots | Wireworms, the larvae of crop-feeding click beetles | Yes, in gardens and fields | Bait-trap, rotate crops, avoid planting into old sod |
| Large brown grub with forked tail spines in a rotting log | Possibly an eyed click beetle larva | Beneficial; it eats wood-boring beetle larvae | Leave the log alone |
Compiled by The Pest Control Brief from Virginia Cooperative Extension ENTO-659NP, UF/IFAS EENY085, LSU AgCenter, Clemson HGIC, Mississippi State University Extension and Rutgers FS294.
What is a click beetle?
Click beetles are the family Elateridae. Missouri’s Department of Conservation estimates about 1,000 species in North America; Virginia Cooperative Extension says hundreds. They are long, narrow and parallel-sided, rounded or tapered at each end, and Missouri points to a useful field mark: the rear corners of the pronotum (the shield behind the head) extend backwards into points on each side. Antennae are usually saw-toothed, threadlike or comb-tipped.
How big are click beetles?
Virginia gives most adults as 6.4 to 19.1 mm. UF/IFAS puts the family range at 3 mm to 5 cm, and Missouri says up to 2.5 inches with most under an inch. The biggest in North America, according to LSU AgCenter, are the eyed click beetles, at 2.5 to 4.5 cm; UF/IFAS gives the eastern eyed click beetle as 24 to 45 mm.
The eyed click beetle
The eastern eyed click beetle, Alaus oculatus, is the click beetle most people photograph and ask about. In our iNaturalist data it accounts for 25,924 of the 54,855 US research-grade click beetle records, almost half of the entire family. Adults are mainly black with bold white speckles and two large black eyespots ringed in white on the thorax, which LSU AgCenter says presumably deter predators. The real eyes are small and on the head. The similar small eyed click beetle (Alaus myops) has smaller eyespots and is more often found in pines.
The larva is the interesting part. UF/IFAS reports that in one study each captive eastern eyed click beetle larva ate more than 200 longhorned beetle larvae during its development. LSU notes captive larvae can pass through as many as 20 growth stages and take up to 22 months to mature. Clemson’s Home and Garden Information Center describes the adults as harmless to people and pets.
Where eyed click beetles are recorded
Measured as records per 10,000 iNaturalist observations of anything in each state, the eyed click beetle is most often recorded in the Carolinas and Georgia, followed by Virginia and Maryland.
How the click works
LSU AgCenter describes the mechanism: a blunt spine on the underside of the first thoracic segment fits into a slot on the second. The beetle flexes its thoracic muscles, the spine slips, and the stored tension throws the body into the air with a click. Virginia says this can launch the beetle as much as several inches.
The published measurements are remarkable. A 2021 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences filmed four click beetles (Elater abruptus) with high-speed synchrotron X-rays. Loading the spring took 33 to 243 milliseconds. Once the latch slipped, soft cuticle in the hinge recoiled in about 0.8 ms, and the peg tip reached 1.8 metres per second and an acceleration of 530 times gravity.
Earlier work by M. E. G. Evans, summarised in a 2011 PLoS ONE paper by Ribak and Weihs, found beetles 10 to 12 mm long jumping up to 30 cm, more than 25 body lengths, at accelerations up to 380 times gravity and turning up to six somersaults. Ribak and Weihs found the takeoff angle is fixed at about 80 degrees, directing 98 per cent of the force upwards, and that the beetle cannot control how it lands: the chance of landing on its feet is no better than random.
Is the click sound at night a click beetle?
A single sharp snap near a porch light on a summer night is often a click beetle, especially if something small then hops on the ground. Repeated chirping, buzzing or ticking is something else; our guide to bugs that make noise at night sorts the sounds out.
Are click beetles dangerous?
No. Virginia Cooperative Extension states that adult click beetles do not bite or sting, though they may try to click out of your hand. Clemson says the eyed click beetle is harmless to people and pets. Mississippi State’s extension entomologist adds a fair caveat: eyed click beetles have strong mandibles and can give a sharp bite if not handled carefully. Anyone with concerns about a bite reaction should speak to a doctor.
Do click beetles bite?
Small click beetles generally do not; the eyed click beetle may nip if squeezed. None sting, carry disease or feed on blood.
Click beetle or cockroach?
Brown click beetles indoors are regularly mistaken for cockroaches. A click beetle has hard wing covers meeting in a straight line down the back, a long, narrow, bullet-shaped body and backward-pointing corners on the thorax shield; a cockroach is flat and oval with soft, overlapping wings and long, whippy antennae. Turn it over: a click beetle will snap into the air. Our guide to bugs that look like cockroaches covers the full set of look-alikes, and cockroach identification confirms the real thing.
Why are there click beetles in my house?
Light. Virginia says adults are attracted to bright lights at night and can be a nuisance around houses in mid to late summer, and University of Maine Extension notes that in hot weather they often enter through open windows and doors at night. They cannot breed indoors: females lay their eggs in soil, and wireworms develop there.
Our iNaturalist data shows when to expect them. US click beetle records peak in June, and 84 per cent fall between April and July. The eyed click beetle peaks in June at more than four times its usual share of observations, with 65 per cent of its records in May and June. That is earlier than the mid to late summer nuisance period Virginia describes, which may reflect the smaller species that come to lights later in the year.
How to get rid of click beetles in the house
- Reduce outdoor lighting. Virginia calls this the best way to limit beetles entering buildings: leave unneeded lights off, or use lower-intensity or motion-activated lights.
- Tighten the entry points. Keep door seals tight, mend holes in screens and seal cracks in foundations and walls.
- Remove stragglers. Individual beetles can be vacuumed up. Virginia notes an aerosol insecticide can be used on individual beetles as needed; if you do, follow the label. Whole-house spraying is not justified for a beetle that cannot live indoors.
Our explainer on why insects come to light covers the mechanism.
What do click beetles eat?
Adults feed lightly, on nectar and pollen (Virginia) or plant juices and foliage (Missouri), and do not damage plants. The larvae are the feeders, and their diets split three ways, according to Missouri: some eat decaying material in rotting logs or soil, some eat seeds, sprouts and roots, and some, like the eyed click beetle, prey on other beetle larvae.
Wireworms: the click beetle that is a pest
Wireworms are thin, cylindrical, hard-bodied larvae with three pairs of small legs behind the head, yellowish to coppery or tan, and about an inch and a half long when grown. Rutgers lists the vegetables they hit most often: carrots, potatoes, radishes, sweet potatoes, turnips, corn seedlings, strawberries and tomato transplant stems. A single root may carry ten or more holes. North Dakota State notes that in potatoes the tubers are the real loss, with narrow tunnels that cut market value and let in disease.
Development is slow and overlapping. Rutgers says larvae feed for one to six years depending on species and pupate for three to four weeks; North Dakota State and the University of Maine give three or four years as usual, with some Conoderus species finishing in one. Because generations overlap, wireworms of every size are in the soil at once.
Why new gardens get hit hardest
Wireworms build up under grass. Rutgers advises against planting a vegetable garden in soil that was recently sod, because the wireworms move onto the new crop’s roots, and Mississippi State notes crops planted where there was recently pasture or weeds are especially susceptible. If you have just turned a lawn into a vegetable bed, expect the first year or two to be the worst. Wireworms also turn up in turf itself; our lawn pest control guide covers how to tell insect damage from other lawn problems.
How to check for wireworms before planting
Bait sampling is the standard extension method. For home gardens, Rutgers suggests burying germinating peas, beans, corn, cull potatoes or stiff dough 2 to 4 inches deep at 3 to 10 foot spacing, covering with a board or tile, and digging them up every 3 to 5 days to destroy the wireworms. For fields, North Dakota State buries 1 to 2 cups of soaked corn and wheat 4 to 6 inches deep at about one station per acre in moist soil of at least 45°F, then counts wireworms per station after one to two weeks.
| Average wireworms per bait station | Risk of economic damage to potatoes | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Low (less than 1 chance in 10) | Control not needed, or confirm with soil sampling |
| Up to 0.5 | Moderate (1 chance in 3) | Sample the soil and use a decision card |
| Up to 1.0 | Less than 50:50 | Sample the soil and use a decision card |
| Up to 2.0 | Probable (more than 50:50) | Sample the soil and use a decision card |
| Up to 4.0 | High (75 to 90 per cent chance) | Treat at planting, per label |
| More than 4.0 | Extreme | Do not plant potatoes there |
Source: North Dakota State University Extension E-188, citing Bechinski and others, 1994. NDSU warns that no rescue treatment exists once a crop is planted, and that a zero count does not prove wireworms are absent. The thresholds are for commercial potato fields, but the logic helps a gardener decide whether a bed is ready for root crops.
Managing wireworms in a home garden
- Rotate. Rutgers says that once damage is detected, crop rotation is the best management tool, and that there are no effective insecticides labelled for home garden wireworm control.
- Trap out. Repeat the bait or carrot trap, removing the wireworms each time.
- Cultivate in autumn. Rutgers notes that autumn digging exposes wireworms to birds and other predators.
- Fix drainage. Several species thrive in poorly drained soil.
- Keep attractive ornamentals apart. Rutgers names asters, phlox, gladioli and dahlias as attractive to wireworms.
Our garden pest control guide explains why any product used on a vegetable bed must list that crop on its label.
Glowing click beetles
A few click beetles glow. Mississippi State notes that some click beetle species have bioluminescent eyespots, while Virginia stresses, against folklore, that the eyed click beetle’s spots do not glow. A 2018 study in eLife sequenced the genome of the Caribbean click beetle Ignelater luminosus alongside two fireflies and concluded that click beetles and fireflies evolved their light independently, even though the chemistry is near-identical; the click beetle’s light organs are anatomically unique.
Frequently asked questions
Are click beetles dangerous?
No. Virginia Cooperative Extension states that adult click beetles do not bite or sting, and Clemson describes the eyed click beetle as harmless to people and pets. They carry no disease and cannot infest a house. The one caveat, from Mississippi State, is that the large eyed click beetle has strong mandibles and can give a sharp nip if squeezed, so handle it gently or not at all.
What is a click beetle?
A click beetle is a member of the beetle family Elateridae: a long, narrow, usually brown or black beetle that can snap a spine on its underside into a groove, making a click and flipping itself into the air to get off its back. Most are 6 to 19 mm long. Their larvae, called wireworms, live in soil or rotting wood, and some are crop pests.
How to get rid of click beetles?
Indoors, reduce outdoor lighting, which Virginia Cooperative Extension calls the best way to keep them out, then repair screens and door seals and vacuum up any strays. In the garden the target is the wireworm larva: bait-trap with buried potato pieces or germinating seeds, rotate crops, cultivate in autumn and avoid planting root crops into freshly turned sod.
Do click beetles bite?
Small click beetles generally do not, and Virginia Cooperative Extension says adults do not bite or sting, although they may try to click out of your hand. The large eastern eyed click beetle can give a sharp nip if handled carelessly, according to Mississippi State University Extension. Neither type stings, sucks blood or spreads disease. Speak to a doctor if you are worried about any bite reaction.
What do click beetles eat?
Adults feed lightly on nectar, pollen and plant juices and do not harm plants. Larvae vary: wireworms of crop-feeding species eat seeds, roots and tubers such as potatoes and carrots; others eat decaying wood or soil matter; and eyed click beetle larvae prey on wood-boring grubs, with one captive larva recorded eating more than 200 longhorned beetle larvae.
Sources
- Virginia Cooperative Extension, Click Beetles, 3104-1575 (ENTO-659NP), revised 2026.
- Missouri Department of Conservation, Field Guide: Click Beetles.
- UF/IFAS Extension, Featured Creatures EENY085, Click Beetles, Alaus spp. (revised 2024), and Beneficial Arthropods: Click beetles.
- LSU AgCenter, Alaus oculatus and A. myops, Eyed Click Beetles.
- Clemson Cooperative Extension Home and Garden Information Center, Eastern Eyed Click Beetle (2022).
- Mississippi State University Extension, Bug’s Eye View: Eyed Click Beetle, Vol. 2 No. 29 (2016).
- University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Click Beetles.
- Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension, FS294, Wireworms (Insect Pests of the Home Garden series), 2006.
- North Dakota State University Extension, E-188, Wireworm Management for North Dakota Field Crops (Glogoza, 1998).
- Bolmin and others, Nonlinear elasticity and damping govern ultrafast dynamics in click beetles, PNAS 118, 2021.
- Ribak and Weihs, Jumping without using legs: the jump of the click-beetles is morphologically constrained, PLoS ONE, 2011.
- Fallon and others, Firefly genomes illuminate parallel origins of bioluminescence in beetles, eLife, 2018.
- The Pest Control Brief analysis of iNaturalist research-grade records, pulled October 2026.
