A new genus and species of fossil elaterid namely Clavelater ningchengensis gen. et sp. nov. assigned to the subfamily Protagrypninae based on one specimen from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation near Daohugou Village, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, northeastern China is described and illustrated. This specimen displays a pair of large antennae that easily differs from those of most Mesozoic elaterids. There are around 36 species within 20 genera referred to elateroids described from the Early Jurassic to Miocene of China, with another three species within three genera reviewed, but the taxonomic assignment of at least seven species within three genera is doubted. The systematic position of fossil elateriform beetles reported from China is reviewed and the evolution of Mesozoic elateroids briefly discussed.