Member viruses infect plants and are transmitted vertically via seeds.

[1] The name derives from amalgam (blend, mix) which refers to amalgaviruses possessing characteristics of both partitiviruses and totiviruses.

[2][4] They have two partially overlapping open reading frames which encode the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and a putative capsid protein.

[2][5] It has been suggested that amalgaviruses have evolved via recombination between viruses with double-stranded and negative-strand RNA genomes.

[6] Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the amalgavirus RdRp forms a sister clade to the corresponding RdRp protein of partitiviruses (Partitiviridae) which have segmented (bipartite) dsRNA genomes and infect plants, fungi and protists.