The
eastern eyed click beetle (Alaus oculatus)
is
often found around rotting timber and that is exactly where I found
this one….in a pile of old, rotting boards. It is named for the
false eyes that appear on the back of the thorax.
The
"click" refers to the sound that they make when they flip
themselves upright. According to the Audobon Field Guide, “they
accomplish this amazing feat by snapping a fingerlike spine on the
underside of the thorax into a groove below the mesothorax.”
Strangely, this particular one did not exhibit the phenomenon. He
just lays on his back playing dead.
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