Some species are pests (urban entomology) and can cause extensive damage to natural fibers in homes and places of business.

[2] Adult Dermestidae are generally small beetles (1–12 mm long), rounded to oval in shape, with hairy or scaly elytra that may form distinctive and colourful patterns.

The antennae are clubbed (except in male Thylodrias contractus) and usually fit into a groove on the underside of the thorax, concealing them when the beetle is at rest.

In forensic studies, the larvae are found on human corpses during the dry and skeletal phases of decomposition, which occurs several days after death.

[3] Larvae of subfamilies Dermestinae and Attageninae (which lack hastisetae), burrow into feeding substrates, pupate in concealed locations, and show fast escape behaviours when disturbed.

[8] Dermestid hastisetae (a specific group of detachable setae from the larvae of subfamily Megatominae), both those attached to exuviae and those shed by larvae, cause health problems in humans when inhaled (rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma), ingested in contaminated food (nausea, fever, diarrhea, proctitis, perianal itching) or touched with skin (dermatitis).

[5] Dermestes maculatus, hide beetles, also have the potential to offer investigators an estimation of the time since death in homicide or questionable cases.

[9][10] Similar to the use of flies in forensic entomology, the arrival of D. maculatus to carrion occurs in a predictable succession.

Dermestes maculatus collected from raccoon carcass: While possible members of the family have been described from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic based on isolated elytra, the oldest known unambiguous member of the family is Paradermestes from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of China, which appears to belong to the subfamily Dermestinae.

The ancestral ecology of the group was likely mycophagy, which is retained in Orphilinae, with the ancestor of most other lineages making the transition to saprophagy.

[4] Mature larvae of both species tend to bore into hard substrates such as wood, cork, and plaster to pupate.

Adult larder beetles are generally 1/3 to 3/8 of an inch long and are dark brown with a broad, pale yellow spotted band across the upper portion of the elytra.

Adult larder beetles are typically found outdoors in protected areas during the winter, but during the spring and early summer they enter buildings.

[19] The black larder or incinerator beetle, Dermestes ater, is completely dark with scattered yellow setae on the body.

[19] This species is similar in appearance to the larder beetle, with larvae covered in short and long reddish brown or black setae, but its two spine-like posterior appendages curve forward.

Larvae of the black carpet beetle Attagenus megatoma may grow up to 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) and be yellow to brown in color.

Other types of carpet beetle are regularly 1⁄4 to 1 inch (6.4 to 25.4 millimetres) long and covered with dark setae.

These beetles are attracted to soiled fabrics and crevices where dead insects may serve as a food source.

On average, the adults are 2 to 3 mm in length and have scales that vary from white, brown, yellow, or even gray-yellow.

On hatching, the larvae of khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium) are around 1.6 to 1.8 mm long and mostly covered with dense setae, some simple and some barbed.

As the larvae further develop, their color changes to a golden or reddish brown and the abdomen portion becomes proportionally shorter.

Infestations are difficult to control because they crawl into cracks and crevices, remaining for long periods of time.

[27] Modern methods of meat slaughtering, storage, and distribution have reduced potential infestations of hide beetles.