The family Cerophytidae represents a small, morphologically highly distinctive group of beetles within the superfamily Elateroidea, closely related to click beetles (Elateridae). It comprises approximately 20–25 extant species in four to five genera, with its members distributed primarily in the Neotropical region, but also in the Holarctic region and Africa. These beetles are often mistaken by the general public for common click beetles, from which they differ fundamentally in their unique jumping mechanism. Whilst click beetles jump using a ‘spike’ on their pronotum, members of the Cerophytidae use modified hind hip joints (trochanters) for propulsion, which is a unique phenomenon in the insect kingdom. The larvae are saproxylic, living in decaying wood and wood infested with fungi, where they likely feed on a combination of decomposing wood, fungi and small invertebrates. Adults are small to medium-sized, flattened on top and strongly arched on the underside. In Europe, including the Czech Republic, the family is represented by a single species, Cerophytum elateroides, which is a very rare and conservation-important saproxylic beetle of floodplain and deciduous forests.

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Cerophytum elateroides