[5] The family contains a total of approximately 96 species, spread across sixteen genera in three subfamilies.

[6][7] They are primarily located in the more tropical Afrotropical, Australasian, and Oriental realms, even though some species, such as Chelisoches morio, are cosmopolitan.

[7] They are often dark in color, lending to their common name, and can vary in size.

They can be easily identified due to a certain characteristic in their tarsi, involving a ventral projection on the second tarsal segment.

Like most earwigs, they are omnivores, and their diet consists of the larvae of leaf-mining insects, as well as certain types of vegetation.