[1][2] It has nine genera distributed in Central America from Honduras south and east to northern and central South America.

[1] Centroleninae are defined based on molecular and morphological characteristics, none of which are obvious to a naked eye.

However, in several species a fighting behaviour that might be synapomorphy has been observed: males dangle by their feet and grapple venter-to-venter; amplexus-like or wrestling on leaves fighting of Hyalinobatrachinae is hypothesized to be primitive behaviour.

Their sister taxon is ambiguous, it is either genus Ikakogi or subfamily Hyalinobatrachinae.

[3] There are nine genera:[1] Several species have uncertain generic placement and are placed in Centroleninae Incertae Sedis, awaiting for more information:[1] The AmphibiaWeb includes Ikakogi Guayasamin, Castroviejo-Fisher, Trueb, Ayarzagüena, Rada, and Vilà, 2009 in this subfamily,[4] whereas it is not included in any subfamily in the Amphibian Species of the World.