The genus is almost certainly paraphyletic but remains in wide use as a "catch all" for heteromorph ammonites of the superfamily Turrilitoidea that do not neatly fit into the more derived groupings.

In an attempt to identify clades within the genus, it has been divided up into a series of new genera or subgenera by different palaeontologists, including Eohamites, Hamitella, Helicohamites, Lytohamites, Planohamites, Psilohamites, and Sziveshamites.

[4][2] The open shell of these ammonites would have made them poor swimmers because of drag, but beyond that fact, very little is certain about their mode of life.

It is widely assumed that they were planktonic, perhaps catching small prey in the manner of jellyfish, but repaired shell damage apparently caused by crabs may indicate that they spent at least some time close to the sea floor.

The genus rapidly diversified during the Albian into a number of morphologically distinct lineages that seem to have given rise to at least three other families of heteromorphs, the Baculitidae, Turrilitidae, and Scaphitidae.