Many have small mandibles that are covered by a widened clypeus, the exoskeleton plate above the mouth.

[1] This is a diverse subfamily with varied life strategies and habitat types.

Other species are detritivores or saprophages, which feed on dead matter, and some are predatory.

Some are known as inquilines, living in ant or termite nests, and some are sand-dwelling beetles.

[1] A survey of South American aphodiines found them in diverse habitat types including temperate rainforests, high-elevation Andean grassland, Patagonian steppe, coastal sand dunes, and subantarctic beech forest.