The species is black, has a pronotum that is nearly square, and has at least five rows of fine punctures on each elytron.

False mealworm beetles live beneath bark and logs and are found throughout the United States.

A. barbatus have a tuft of long yellow setae, while A. pennsylvanica does not.

[2] Unlike many other tenebrionidae, the larvae are light white and slightly more moisture dependent.

Pensylvanicus is often erroneously spelled as "pennsylvanica", "pensylvanica", or "pennsylvanicus".