It currently includes five definitive genera, Amplectobelua, Lyrarapax, Ramskoeldia, Guanshancaris and a currently unnamed genus from the lower Cambrian aged Sirius Passet site in Greenland.

[2][3] In 2014, Amplectobeluidae was defined as the most inclusive clade including Amplectobelua symbrachiata but not Anomalocaris canadensis, Tamisiocaris borealis, or Hurdia victoria.

[4] Amplectobeluids could be recognized by frontal appendages with well-developed first distal endite, which forming a pincer-like structure that presumably better suited for a grasping function.

[6][7][8][9][10] Another distinctive features only known in amplectobeluid genera were pairs of gnathobase-like structures (known by Amplectobelua and Ramskoeldia),[9][11] or an oral cone with combination of tetraradial arrangement and scale-like nodes (known by Lyrarapax and Guanshancaris).

[8][12][13] Early in 2014, "Anomalocaris" kunmingensis was tentatively assigned to Amplectobelua by Vinther et al.[4] Later that year, however, the discoverers of Lyrarapax unguispinus ignored that assessment and created a genus within Amplectobelua sensu Vinther et al.[7] Indeterminate frontal appendages assignable to this group are known from the Parker Formation of Vermont.