Carditidae is a neglected and poorly classified family.

[1][2] It has six subfamilies recognised by the World Register of Marine Species, but the WoRMS has refrained from assigning contents to any family due to ambiguity and overlap in their definitions.

The genera of Carditidae recognised by the World Register of Marine Species as of April 2019[update] are: Synonyms: Notes: The original six-subfamily system was first proposed by Chavan in 1969, contain the following genera (some of which are now synonyms or classified in other families):[1] Carditamerinae Chavan, 1969 Carditesinae Chavan, 1969 Carditinae Férussac, 1822 Miodomeridinae Chavan, 1969 Thecaliinae Dall, 1903 Venericardiinae Chavan, 1969 In 2019, D. E. Pérez proposed a seven-subfamily system for Carditidae.

[1] Carditamerinae Carditinae Miodomeridinae Palaeocarditinae Chavan, 1969 Scalaricarditinae Pérez, 2019 Thecaliinae Venericardiinae * = not yet recognised by the World Register of Marine Species.

In addition, Pérez proposed possible affiliations for the genera not included in his subfamilies:[1] In some classifications prior to the 2000s, Carditidae used to contain a seventh subfamily Carditellinae, until it was reallocated to Condylocardiidae.