Traditionally, they were considered a separate subfamily (Loriinae) from the other subfamily (Psittacinae) based on the specialized characteristics, but recent molecular and morphological studies show that the group is positioned in the middle of various other groups.

All species are in the subfamily Scombrinae, except the butterfly kingfish which is the sole member of subfamily Gasterochismatinae.

The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera.

Each subfamily has evolved in conjunction with a particular set of flowers.

At times, this group of animals has been regarded as a subfamily, called Callitrichinae, of the family Cebidae.

They feed on trees and shrubs, except in the subfamily Dioptinae, which feed on herbaceous plants (Miller, 1992).

The Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly ( Agraulis vanillae ) is a bright orange butterfly of the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Heliconiinae.

This subfamily is the most diverse, represented by the greatest number of genera with 32, but the least number of species with 861.

Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products.

This subfamily is larger than all mammal families except the Cricetidae and Muridae, and is larger than all mammal orders except the bats and the remainder of the rodents.

Furthermore, mutations have been reported in the genes coding for potassium voltage gated channel, Shaw related subfamily, member 4 (Kv3.4) and sodium channel protein type 4 subunit alpha (Na41.4).

In a recent treatment, all Austronesian languages were classified into 10 subfamilies, with all the extra Formosan languages grouped in one subfamily and with representatives of the remaining nine known only in Taiwan.