Ctenicera cuprea (Click Beetle)

The Ctenicera cuprea is a Click Beetle, possessing a mechanism that is able to click. A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a notch on the mesosternum, producing a click, that can bounce the beetle into the air. The main use for clicking is to avoid predation, but the beetle also uses it when it is on its back and needs to right itself.

Ctenicera cuprea are large, elongated and variable beetles. They have several colour combinations including, dark yellow elytra with green tips and a green pronotum, all green, all purple and most have a very metallic appearance. Males have very long and pectinate antennae, whilst females have shorter and plainer segmented antennae.

Adults can be seen from May to July, with the males particularly conspicuous, resting at the tops of grasses and flowers.

It is a fairly frequent species in the north and west of England and Wales and is in much of Scotland. The range extends down to Northamptonshire, with a few records in the south-west England.