"[4] Many Tenebrionidae species inhabit dark places; in genera such as Stenocara and Onymacris, they are active by day and inactive at night.

The oldest known member of the family is Jurallecula from the Late Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan, assigned to the subfamily Alleculinae.

The Tenebrionidae may be identified by a combination of features, including: Tenebrionid beetles occupy ecological niches in mainly deserts and forests as plant scavengers.

Most species are generalistic omnivores, and feed on decaying leaves, rotting wood, fresh plant matter, dead insects, and fungi as larvae and adults.

Some species live in intensely dry deserts such as the Namib, and have evolved adaptions by which they collect droplets of fog that deposit on their elytra.