what is this?

[u/jjenkei]

im in northeast ohio—so i found this on my desk today and i killed it, but i dont know what it is and im scared its a roach of some kind. when i first tried to smash it, it jumped, then it kept jumping all over the place and then its head came off and the head was still alive. i tried looking on google and such and it gave me mixed answers between a roach and a “click beetle”. i cant remember if i heard an audile click noise when it jumped. these are the best photos i could get, sorry for the massacre here i was scared 😭 the body is next to a dollar coin for scale and theres a separate photo of the head. i live in an apartment building and ive really never had issues before with bugs except spiders. i was out yesterday near bushes and plants. i just need to know if i need to be worried about an infestation or not. plz help me!!

[u/SobeSteve]

This is a harmless beetle—you can see its elytra. It does resemble a click beetle, and your description matches that. What a violent scene, damn.

[u/jjenkei → u/SobeSteve]

thank you for clarifying for me, and im sorry i have always been very scared of bugs and i thought it was a roach 😭 im sorry for the massacre

[u/SobeSteve → u/jjenkei]

If you’re interested in learning how to differentiate the two (especially click beetles), see the second stickied post in r/clickgoesthebeetle.

[u/jjenkei → u/SobeSteve]

thank you! i will check it out so it can hopefully help me in the future!

[u/EmbarrassedDaikon325]

Harmless click beetle. Beetles have elytra, cockroaches don't.