This is a click beetle that's stuck on its back. It's kicking its legs, but can't quite get enough
leverage to flip itself back over. But that's okay. It doesn't have to. It's an insect that's
famous for using its body and a spectacular way to get off the ground and back on its feet.
One thing I really like about the click beetle jump is you can see what they use to make it work.
They have a little latch that's right here on their bodies that they use to
load and release the energy they use for a jump. I only recently found out about this,
but when I did, it immediately went on my list of things I needed to film.
But before I show you that footage I think the best way to understand what that latch is doing
is to actually look at how a mousetrap works. Mousetraps are spring-loaded devices
but just as important as the spring is this part here, the latch. This little lip keeps
the energy of the spring loaded and ready to go. When it slips, that's the point at which
the stored energy of the system is released and the fast movement of the trap can happen.
For a click beetle, their latch is on the underside of their bodies between the front and
middle legs. It's a single peg that catches on a corresponding lip and holds the front of the body
in place while their spring is being loaded. There are around 10,000 species of click beetle and they
all use a version of this peg as a latch. The latch allows the beetle to load an internal
spring that, when it's released, rapidly flexes the front of the body and throws the
beetle into the air with its head rocking back and forth recoiling from the rapid movement.
Here are two close-up slow-motion shots that show the beetles setting the peg latch in place
as they prepare for a jump. The "click" in a click beetle's name
is from the snapping sound that's often produced when the peg releases and the thorax flexes.
In this sequence, captured at 3,200 frames per second the rapid flex of the beetle sends it
accelerating off the ground at 2,150 meters per second squared which is pulling 219 g's.
Other click beetles have been measured accelerating off the ground at up to 380 g's.
It's pretty cool that the latch is so visible in these beetles. In other spring-loaded animals ones
that move a leg or a mouth part really fast the latch can be really hard to see or even internal.
It's more common to see evidence of the spring being loaded or released. Like here are two
trap-jaw ants about to snap their head capsules are actually part of the spring and you can see
them release and pop back into form when they snap if you watch here and here. This is the closest
I could get to capturing a click beetle spring after the peg latch is locked in place the beetle
can start loading the spring and if you look here, under the latch, you can see part of that process
as the body deforms while the muscles and thorax contract right before the snap is released
Of all the spring-loaded jumping insects I filmed I think click beetles stand out as one of the most
unusual. Without using any appendages they throw themselves into a wild-spinning high-flying jump.
Why they evolved such a powerful and unique jump is actually unclear. When threatened
they are quick to play dead and when they do jump they don't seem to be able to control the
orientation of their body, and their landings are far from graceful. So, i'm super happy that
I got to film these beetles and see what they do in detail. I think they're pretty amazing.
I should say that all the beetles that are in this video I just grabbed from my yard they're
really common insects so it's likely that you can go outside and find one too. Thanks for watching.