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Click beetle larvae, called wireworms, are usually saprophagous, living on dead organisms, but some species are serious agricultural pests, and others are active predators of other insect larvae. Some elaterid species are bioluminescent in both larval and adult form, such as those of the genus Pyrophorus .
Tenebrionid beetles occupy ecological niches in mainly deserts and forests as plant scavengers. Most species are generalistic omnivores, and feed on decaying leaves, rotting wood, fresh plant matter, dead insects, and fungi as larvae and adults. [10] Several genera, including Bolitotherus, are specialized fungivores which feed on polypores.
Perhaps the best known species is Zophobas morio, synonymously known as Zophobas atratus, a beetle whose larvae are robust mealworms sold as food for pets [4] such as lizards. The larvae are known commonly as "superworms". [5] Superworms should not be confused with darkling beetle mealworms sprayed with juvenile hormone. [6]
Beetles with somewhat flattened, highly mobile larvae include the ground beetles and rove beetles; their larvae are described as campodeiform. Some beetle larvae resemble hardened worms with dark head capsules and minute legs. These are elateriform larvae, and are found in the click beetle (Elateridae) and darkling beetle (Tenebrionidae ...
These worms are the larva or the larviform female adults of the Phrixothrix beetles. Their most distinctive characteristic is that they possess two colors of bioluminescence, meaning they can ...
Zophobas atratus is a species of darkling beetle, whose larvae are known by the common name superworm, kingworm, barley worm, morio worm or simply Zophobas.Superworms are common in the reptile pet industry as food, along with giant mealworms (Tenebrio molitor larvae treated with juvenile hormone [citation needed]).
When a click beetle bends its body, the peg snaps into the cavity, causing the beetle's body to straighten so suddenly that it jumps into the air. [ 5 ] Most beetles capable of bioluminescence are in the Elateroidea, in the families Lampyridae (~2000 species), Phengodidae (~200 species), Rhagophthalmidae (100 species) and Elateridae (>100 species).
The larvae of the litter beetle, like certain other larvae of darkling beetles such as mealworms, are used as animal feed, e.g., fed to captive reptiles. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] They have been reported as a good first food for Central American wood turtle ( Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima mannii ) hatchlings, because they are more active than common ...