Members of a species of woodboring beetle that may live in rafters of wooden structures. The common name derives from the noise made by the beetle: to attract mates, it makes a tapping or ticking sound by bumping its head or jaws against the sides of the tunnels it bores in old furniture and wood, which was heard by those sitting up with dying people on quiet, sleepless nights, thus believed to forecast or accompany an approaching death.
