The subfamily has been characterized[1] as adults having mandibles with the back opposite the cutting edge, without margination and excavated opposite the molar pait; having ocelli arranged in two transverse, crescent shaped or circular groups on each side of head, and with five more or less fused lenses; having antennae with basal articles noticeably longer than wide; having pygidium that is apically bicomute; and having abdominal spiracles that are oval and transverse, among other characteristics.

Diagnostic characters for larvae include the presence of a frontoclypeal suture, flat and dome-like antennal sensorium, simple malar apex which is not cleft, simple ninth sternum, annular or annular- multiforous spiracles, and the absence of an endocarina, mandibular prostheca, hypostomal rods, ventral prolegs, and patches or rows of tergal asperites.

The red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) is a popular genetics model organism, especially in studies of intragenomic conflict and population ecology.

Molecular phylogenetic studies have yielded inconsistent results, perhaps due to hybridization, horizontal gene transfer by Wolbachia bacteria, and insufficient taxon sampling obfuscating the information contained in DNA sequence data.

[5][6] The resulting Tenebrioninae, according to "Review of genus-group names in the family Tenebrionidae" (Bouchard et al. 2021), includes the following tribes:[6] In addition, the following genera are of uncertain placement in this subfamily: