Nine tribes are usually recognized today,[1] with a tenth, Caraphiini, created in 2016.

Usually among the smaller members of their family, these beetles are of a slender shape – particularly the thorax is markedly less wide than the wings, while the elytra tips are often pointed.

They differ from most other longhorn beetles in that the antennae are not directly adjacent to the compound eyes.

Hence, the latter are generally oval in outline, rather than having an indentation where the antennae originate, or even being divided by them.

In addition, sexual dichromatism is not infrequently seen in lepturines; usually, longhorn beetles are not dimorphic or only have longer antennae in males.