They are often overlooked by predators and collectors due to their behaviors of covering their bodies with soil and becoming motionless when disturbed.

For example, the more advanced and numerous the ommatidium, the more present the larger the ability of the insect to escape and elude predators.

[4] The oldest known fossils are from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Zaza Formation of Russia and the Shar-Tolgoy and Dzun-Bain Formations of Mongolia, assignable to the extant genus Trox as well as the extinct genera Cretomorgus and Paratrox.

Other known fossils include Kresnikus beynoni found in mid-Cretaceous aged Burmese amber.

Their body shape is oblong to oval with a flat abdomen and their length varies from 2 to 20 mm.

Trogidae larvae are a creamy yellow/white in color, except at their caudal end which darkens as it accumulates feces.

Along with carrion, hide beetles are found within the pellet of many animal species, on other decaying dry matter, and around birds’ and mammals’ nests and feathers, as well as aging bones.

Female Trogids of several species produce chirping noises in order to attract males to their burrows for mating.

As the last succession of insects to appear on the carcass, both larvae and adults can be found feeding on the dry remains.

After the burned skin is eaten away by the trogids, the corpse (with now-exposed, "fresher" surfaces) allows for viable colonization by other forensically important insects that help determine accurate post mortem interval estimates.

[13] The forensic importance of African Trogidae and other carrion-associated beetles is being studied at the University of Pretoria.