The family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Elateridae is commonly called click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related Cerophytidae

Cerophytidae

Cerophytidae is a family of insects known as the rare click beetles. It contains 22 species in four genera, primarily distributed in the New World:* Genus Aphytocerus Zherikhin, 1977** Aphytocerus communis Zherikhin, 1977...

 and Eucnemidae), elaters, snapping beetles, spring beetles or "skipjacks". They are a cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan distribution

In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...

 beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

 family characterized by the unusual click mechanism they possess. There are a few closely related families in which a few members have the same mechanism, but all elaterids can click.