It is an ancient group that first appeared during the Middle Jurassic based on definitive records of fossilized rove beetles, with the Late Triassic taxon Leehermania more likely belonging to Myxophaga.

[citation needed] Most rove beetles are predators of insects and other invertebrates, living in forest leaf litter and similar decaying plant matter.

Almost 400 species are known to live on ocean shores that are submerged at high tide,[8] including the pictured rove beetle,[9] although these are much fewer than 1% of the worldwide total of Staphylinidae.

A few species, notably those of the genus Aleochara, are scavengers and carrion feeders, or are parasitoids of other insects, particularly of certain fly pupae.

To profit from the alleged advantages, several Staphylinidae have been transferred into Italy, Hawaii, the continental United States and Easter Island by practitioners.

[10] Classification of the 63,650 (as of 2018) staphylinid species is ongoing and controversial, with some workers proposing an organization of as many as 10 separate families, but the current favored system is one of 32 subfamilies, about 167 tribes (some grouped into supertribes), and about 3,200 genera.