The family also includes a species, Vittaria appalachiana, that is highly unusual in that the sporophyte stage of the life cycle is absent.

He invented the new genus Haplopteris to accommodate another group of simple-leaved ferns separated from Pteris, but placed it in tribe Adiantaceae instead, due to the location of its sori just behind the leaf margin.

He described Radiovittaria as a subgenus of Vittaria, subsumed Scoliosorus within Polytaenium as doubtfully worthy of subgeneric rank, while Rheopteris had not yet been discovered.

[8] Carl Christensen used the name "Vittarioideae" in Verdoorn's Manual of Pteridology in 1938, but did not include a description, leaving it nomenclaturally invalid.

[12] The following genera are recognized in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I):[1] The following phylogeny for the currently recognized genera of the subfamily was presented by Schuettpelz et al.:[5] Adiantum Rheopteris Vaginularia Hecistopteris Radiovittaria Haplopteris (including Monogramma s.s.) Antrophyopsis Antrophyum Polytaenium Scoliosorus Ananthacorus Vittaria