CLICK - 4 reference results
click beetle, common name for members of the widespread beetle family Elateridae. Also called elater beetle, the click beetle has a hinge across the front of the body that allows it to flex, and a spine-and-groove arrangement on the underside of the body that provides a snapping mechanism. When a click beetle is turned on its back it cannot right itself by rolling onto its short legs. It arches its body upward so that only the ends touch the ground, then straightens suddenly, causing the spine to slide into the groove. This sends the beetle spinning through the air and produces a loud click. If the beetle lands on its back again it repeats the performance. A click beetle also snaps its body when it is picked up, which may cause the predator to drop it. Click beetles have long, flat bodies, generally rectangular, but curved at the ends. They range in length from 1/4 in. to 4 in. (6.4-102 mm); most are black or brown. Most adults are nocturnal leaf-eaters. The larvae, called wireworms, are destructive to a large variety of plants. Some tropical click beetles are brilliantly luminescent. Click beetles are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Coleoptera, family Elateridae.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Click languages: see African languages.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
In phonetics, a suction sound made in the mouth. Click sounds occur in various African languages and are often used as interjections in other languages—for example, the sound of disapproval represented in English by tsk, tsk. Clicks are a regular part of the consonant system in the Khoisan languages and in Bantu languages such as Xhosa and Zulu that have been strongly influenced by Khoisan.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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