The bug that makes a clicking sound at night is most commonly the click beetle. Click beetles produce a distinctive clicking or snapping sound by jackknifing their bodies into the air. This clicking serves to flip themselves over if they fall on their backs and can also act as a defensive mechanism to startle predators. They are mostly nocturnal and attract attention with this unique noise during the night. Sometimes cicadas, especially certain species like Putnam’s cicada, also make clicking or ticking sounds at night, which can be mistaken for click beetles. Other insects like katydids or some bugs related to crickets might also produce clicking sounds, but the click beetle is the primary well-known source of this noise at night.
