Use of food and habitat by three species of diurnal adesmine tenebrionid beetles was assessed by crop analyses and pit trapping. Physadesmia globosa (Haag), Onymacris rugatipennis rugatipennis (Haag) and Stenocara gracilipes Solier were chosen for this study as they are the three most common conspicuous macrodetritivores living in the riparian woodland of the usually dry Kuiseb River in the central Namib Desert. The types of food consumed overlapped extensively among species and months of the year, whereas the overlap of habitat use among species and months was less. Keywords: Namibia, Namib Desert, Gobabeb, Kuiseb River, desert biology, desert ecology, desert fauna, species richness, detritivores, habitat use, foraging behaviour, feeding behaviour, pitfall-trapping. ACCESSION NUMBER: 574.5'688 SEE.