[1][2][3] The group of genera making up Rhysodinae had been treated as the family Rhysodidae in the past, and subsequent DNA analysis then placed it within Carabidae, where it was sometimes treated as the tribe Rhysodini,[4][5] but the most recent analyses place it as a subfamily in a clade along with subfamilies Paussinae and Siagoninae, forming a sister to the remaining Carabidae.

The 11-segment antennae are short, resembling a string of beads, while the mandibles lack cutting edges and are thus nonfunctional.

[citation needed] Adults and larvae live in moist rotten wood that is infested with slime moulds, which are believed to be their diet.

Adults do not make burrows, instead just squeezing between the cell layers of the decomposed wood, generally leaving no visible trace of their passage, while larvae live in short tunnels.

[citation needed] They occur on all continents with forested areas, the richest fauna being found in New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and northern South America.