male arboreal click beetle
Euthysanius sp.

I won't try to guess which genus this beetle is. I love the pectinate antennae. It was at our doorstep coming back from Monday night's grunion greeting past midnight, hence Tuesday's date. I played with its clicking ability for a while and was glad it didn't try to bite me with its visibly impressive mandibles. Poor little fellow had some difficulty flying away and kept hitting obstacles as if it were drunk.

ps 07/18/10 - For a great post on the mechanics of the click, check out The Dragonfly Woman's post.

pss 08/19/11 - I originally posted this simply as a click beetle in the family Elateridae. Thanks to a comment by Ted at Beetles in the Bush and a recent click beetle post by biobabbler, I revisited click beetle ID. I'm fairly sure of the ID to genera, but I have no reference to check if it is the well-documented E. lautus. According to Evans and Hogue's Field Guide to Beetles of California there are 5 species of Euthysanius and aproximately 300 species of Elateridae in California alone. Interesting to note the females do not have wings and have different shaped antennae. I think ID's can be extremely difficult for most beetle species, unless you're an expert.