Attenuated Click Beetle

Parallelostethus attenuatus · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Elateridae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Attenuated Click Beetle
Photo: Sawyer Baran, CC BY

Parallelostethus attenuatus is a click beetle belonging to the family Elateridae. In Indiana it lives in rotten logs where it feeds on decaying moist wood tissue.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Elateridae are generally common in wood in Indiana.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

It eats decaying moist wood tissue found in rotten logs.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 26 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Attenuated Click Beetle photo 2
Photo: Deana Tempest Thomas, CC BY
Attenuated Click Beetle photo 3
Photo: Kai Squires, CC BY
Attenuated Click Beetle photo 4
Photo: Tim, CC BY
Attenuated Click Beetle photo 5
Photo: Nathan T. Jones, CC BY

Same family (Elateridae)

Eastern Eyed Click BeetleEastern Eyed Click BeetleAlaus oculatusMottled dingy-brown click beetleMottled dingy-brown click beetleAgrypnus murinusDamages trees, gardens or cropsCommon brown click beetleCommon brown click beetleAthous haemorrhoidalisDamages trees, gardens or cropsChequered click beetleChequered click beetleProsternon tessellatumPasture WirewormPasture WirewormConoderus exsulBordered click beetleBordered click beetleDenticollis linearis

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelostethus_attenuatus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-27 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-27.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.