click beetle
noun
: any of a family (Elateridae) of beetles able to right themselves with a click when inverted by flexing the articulation between the prothorax and mesothorax
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While sharpshooters are the only insects known to harness superpropulsion, lots of tiny critters have mechanisms for ultrafast movement, according to Aimy Wissa, a mechanical engineer at Princeton University, who studies how click beetles launch themselves in the air without using their legs.
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Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 28 Feb. 2023
But not many realize that click beetles living in termite mounds also light up.
—Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 19 Oct. 2017
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Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 28 Feb. 2023
But not many realize that click beetles living in termite mounds also light up.
—Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 19 Oct. 2017
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“Click beetle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/click%20beetle. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
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