The Family Chamaeleonidae was divided into two subfamilies, Brookesiinae and Chamaeleoninae, by Klaver and Böhme in 1986.

[1] Since its erection in 1986, however, the validity of this subfamily designation has been the subject of much debate,[2] although most phylogenetic studies support the notion that the pygmy chameleons of the subfamily Brookesiinae are not a monophyletic group.

[8] The ten previously recognised genera in the subfamily are: Trioceros was previously considered to be a subgenus of Chamaeleo, until Tilbury & Tolley (2009) raised it to full genus.

Since then, two new species have been described in the genus Trioceros, by Krause & Böhme (2010), and Stipala et al. (2011).

These two new species have not been published in combination with the generic name Chamaeleo, which poses a problem for the citation of these names in Wikipedia, unless Trioceros is treated as a full genus, following Tilbury & Tolley (2009).