[3] Some lineages are only distinguished with difficulty from longhorn beetles (family Cerambycidae), namely by the antennae not arising from frontal tubercles.

Some Chrysomelidae are conspicuously colored, typically in glossy yellow to red or metallic blue-green hues, and some (especially Cassidinae) have spectacularly bizarre shapes.

The bodies of most species are domed, and oval in dorsal view (though some are round or elongated), and they often possess a metallic luster or multiple colors.

In most specimens, the antennae are notably shorter than head, thorax, and abdomen, i.e. not more than half their combined length.

The extinct subfamily Protoscelidinae, containing fossils described from the Middle to Late Jurassic Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, has been transferred to the family Anthribidae.

[20] Larval predators include A. nemorum, the bug Rhacognathus punctatus,[20] and the wasp Symmorphus bifasciatus.

[21] Some species of wasps, such as Polistes carolina, have been known to prey upon Chrysomelidae larvae after the eggs are laid in flowers.