[4] The type genus, Barbourofelis, was originally described by Schultz et al. (1970) and assigned to a new tribe, Barbourofelini, within the felid subfamily Machairodontinae, along with the other sabre-toothed cats.

[6][7] However, a number of studies in the early 2000s identified a closer affinity of the barbourofelines to the Felidae than to the Nimravidae[8] and they were reranked as a distinct family by Morlo et al.

[7] Since then the prevailing view has the barbourofelids as the sister group to the Felidae,[9] although this has recently been challenged, following the description of the middle Miocene genus Oriensmilus from northern China, which provided evidence, mainly based on basicranial morphology, that barbourofelids may be more closely related to nimravids than to felids.

By the end of the Early Miocene, a land bridge had opened between Africa and Eurasia, allowing for a faunal exchange between the two continents.

[17] The phylogenetic relationships of Barbourofelidae are shown in the following cladogram:[19][20] †Vampyrictis vipera †Syrtosmilus syrtensis †Ginsburgsmilus napakensis †Afrosmilus africanus †Afrosmilus hispanicus †Afrosmilus turkanae †Prosansanosmilus eggeri †Prosansanosmilus peregrinus †Sansanosmilus palmidens †Albanosmilus jourdani †Albanosmilus whitfordi †Barbourofelis loveorum †Barbourofelis morrisi †Barbourofelis fricki †Barbourofelis piveteaui