Wireworms

Wireworms are the larvae of several species of Australian native beetles, which are commonly called ‘click’ beetles. Adults are small- to medium- sized beetles with elongated, flattened bodies that have blunt rounded ends. Larvae are slow moving, soil dwellers, which attack the germinating seeds and emerging seedlings of cereal crops, and occasionally oilseeds and grain legumes. They are 15 - 40 mm in length, soft bodied, and flattened in cross section with a brown head and creamy-yellow to red-brown body. False wireworm larvae appear similar, but have a harder, cylindrical body and are faster moving. True wireworm larvae are generally associated with wetter soils and are most damaging from April to August.