The name refers to the fact that all dependoviruses, except duck parvovirus and goose parvovirus (both classified as Anseriform dependoparvovirus 1),[3][4] cannot replicate productively in their host cell without the cell being coinfected by a helper virus such as an adenovirus, a herpesvirus, or a vaccinia virus.

There are eleven recognized species:[5] Dependoparvoviruses have an icosahedral shape, measure 22 nm[6] and are composed of 60 wedge-shaped proteins (triangulation number = 1).

The second gene, rep, can be spliced into four different, nonstructural, regulatory proteins that all aid in the genome replication.

[6] Due to inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) at each end of the genome, a T-shaped secondary structure is formed.

The complementary areas leave a 3' hydroxyl group single stranded for the replication to begin.