Eyed Elaters and Stag Beetles

     I saw a male stag beetle on a friend's screen door one recent evening.  It had two large pincers for the size of the insect, which made it interesting, yet a little frightening to some of the people who saw it.  It stirred my imagination about stag beetles and click beetles that are sometimes seen in or near woods on summer evenings and nights. 
     Eastern eyed-elater click beetles and reddish-brown stag beetles are two species of attractive and intriguing beetles that live in the forests of the eastern United States, including here in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Adults of both species are about an inch and a half long, which helps make them intimidating to some folks, active mostly during summer nights and are attracted to artificial lights, even those inside a building.
     Eyed-elaters have two black, oval marks on the upper part of their thoraxes that resemble eyes to intimidate would-be predators such as skunks, birds and other critters.  Each of those large, oval "eyes" is bordered by a thin white line that allows each eye to stand out.  The exoskeletons of this beetle is gray to blend into the color of tree bark for protection against predation, and there are white speckles on the gray wing covers.  Adults hide by day under logs and other objects on forest floors and sip plant juices. 
     If click beetles fall onto their backs, they quickly right themselves by snapping their thoraxes and abdomens against each other and a hard, outside surface with an audible click, which flips them into the air.  Hopefully, they will land right side up, but if not, they try and try again until successful.  
     Female eyed elaters lay eggs in protective forest soil.  The resulting larvae, called wire worms because they are thin and stiff, crawl into rotting logs and stumps.  Each larva has two sharp jaws to feed on wood-boring beetles and beetle larvae in decaying wood, grows to be two inches long and remains a larva for two to five years.  They finally pupate in soil and emerge as winged adult beetles ready to search for mates and breed.
     Like many kinds of insects, adult click beetles develop wings so they can fly distances farther than they could have crawled as larvae.  That way they are more likely to find a mate and lay fertile eggs.
     Reddish-brown stag beetle males have long jaws, pincers, for the size of their bodies, that resemble the antlers of deer.  Females have noticeably shorter ones.  Males use their pincers to fight each other and court females of their kind; not to pinch us, although they can deliver a painful nip if not handled carefully.
     During summer, female stag beetles lay eggs in dead trees, logs and stumps.  The grubs hatch there, eat the decaying wood and mature in it.  Some of them may fall victim to the larvae of eyed elaters.  Survivors, however, after two years of developing as larvae, pupate in nearby soil and emerge as adults in June, ready to breed.
     Look for these large, beautiful insects during summer.  They look fierce and intimidating, but they are not.  In fact, they are quite attractive and fascinating to experience.