their development in one year (e.g. Conoderus), most wireworms spend three or four years in the soil, feeding on decaying vegetation and the roots of plants, and often causing damage to agricultural crops such as potato, strawberry, corn, and wheat. The subterranean habits of wireworms, their ability to quickly locate food by following carbon dioxide gradients produced by plant material in the soil, and their remarkable ability to recover from illness induced by insecticide exposure (sometimes after many months), make it hard to exterminate them once they have begun to attack a crop. Wireworms can pass easily through the soil on account of their shape and their propensity for following pre-existing burrows, and can travel from plant to plant, thus injuring the roots of multiple plants within a short time. Methods for pest control include crop rotation and clearing the land of insects before sowing. Other subterranean creatures such as the leatherjacket grub of crane flies which have no legs, and geophilid centipedes, which may have over two hundred, are sometimes confused with the six-legged wireworms. Evolution The oldest known species date to the Triassic, but most are problematic due to only being known from isolated elytra. Many fossil elaterids belong to the extinct subfamily Protagrypninae. Selected genera Actenicerus Adelocera Adrastus Aeoloderma Aeoloides Aeolus Agriotes Agrypnus Alaus Ampedus Anchastus Anostirus Aplotarsus Athous Balgus Betarmon Brachygonus Brachylacon Brongniartia Calambus Cardiophorus Cebrio Chalcolepidus Cidnopus Conoderus Craspedostethus Crepidophorus Ctenicera Dacnitus Dalopius Danosoma Deilelater Diacanthous Dicronychus Dima Drilus Eanus Ectamenogonus Ectinus Elater Elathous Eopenthes Fleutiauxellus Haterumelater Hemicleus Hemicrepidius Heteroderes Horistonotus Hypnoidus Hypoganus Hypolithus Idolus Ignelater Ischnodes Isidus Itodacne Jonthadocerus Lacon Lanelater Limoniscus Limonius Liotrichus Megapenthes Melanotus Melanoxanthus Metanomus Merklelater Mulsanteus Negastrius Neopristilophus Nothodes Oedostethus Orithales Paracardiophorus Paraphotistus Peripontius Pheletes Pittonotus Pityobius Podeonius Porthmidius Procraerus Prodrasterius Prosternon Pyrearinus Pyrophorus Quasimus Reitterelater Selatosomus Sericus Simodactylus Spheniscosomus Stenagostus Synaptus Vesperelater Zorochros Notes References External links Elateridae. Click Beetles of the Palearctic Region. On the University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures website: Click beetles, Alaus spp. Conoderus rudis (Brown) Conoderus scissus Schaeffer