Members of the Adrianitidae, named by Schindewolf in 1931, and of the Adrianitaceae, have shells (conchs) that are discoidal to globular with umbilici that vary in form, and sutures with 10 to 30, more or less equal, lobes.

Clinolobus, from the Middle Permian of Sicily, has about 14 lobes with the course of the external suture forming a V. The Adriantidae contains three subfamilies, the Adrianitinae, Hoffmanniinae, and Texoceratinae.

Dunbarites and Clinolobus included in the Adrianantidae in the older edition of Treatise (Part L) have since then been reassigned; Dunbarites to the Schistocerataceae and Clinolobus to the Neoicocerataceae The Emilitinae, established to include the most primitive members of the family, based on Emilites, have been reincorporated into the Adrianitinae.

According to Saunders et al. (1999), the Adrianitidae are derived from Clistoceras, a genus in the Somholitaceae, through Emilites, which in turn is the source for Pseudoemilites and Crimites.

In the taxonomies put forth by Miller, Furnish, and Schindewolf (ca 1960) in the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part L, Ammonoidea, the Adrianitidae is divided into three subfamilies, the more advanced Adrianitinae based on Adrianites, the more primitive Dunbaritinae containing Dunbarites and Emilites, and the Clinolobitinae with just Clinolobus.