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Small to medium (8-16 mm in length) sized black or black and iridescent green-blue click beetle with few setae. The elytra are black or iridescent and the pronotum is black. The tarsal segments lack ventral lobes, tarsal claws lack setae, frontoclypeal carina is incomplete (appearing as carinae above the antennal socket), and the pronotum and elytra lack conspicuous setae. Smaller, non-iridescent specimens from the prairies have been named subspecies destructor (Brown); this is the Prairie Grain Wireworm, an agricultural pest. Some authors treat this subspecies as a species distinct from typical C. aeripennis. In some parts of Alberta, specimens intermediate between C. aeripennis and C. destructor occur, therefore more study of the status of C. destructor is required.