Since the end of the 20th century, increasing availability of molecular phylogenetic data for this hugely successful radiation has led to several competing proposals for a taxonomic arrangement that correctly represents the relationships between the major lineages.

In 2005, Fibiger and Lafontaine arranged the quadrifid (forewing) group into several families, including the quadrifine (hindwing) Erebidae and trifine (hindwing) Noctuidae, based on evidence that suggested that the trifine noctuid subfamilies were derived from within the quadrifine subfamilies, so the family Erebidae would not be strictly monophyletic.

Subsequent research has largely followed suit, with refinements such as the exclusion of Doidae from the superfamily, and the addition of a new family, Scranciidae.

[1] This largely follows the work of Zahiri and colleagues[2][3] and references cited therein, plus Kobayashi & Nonaka (2016)[4] for groupings within Notodontidae.

Note that the placement of Arctiinae, Erebidae, Euteliidae, Lymantriinae, and Nolidae as groups within Noctuidae has been largely rejected by recent authors, and that former families such as Dilobidae, Micronoctuidae, and Thyretidae are no longer recognized at ranks above subfamily, while Doidae is placed in the superfamily Drepanoidea.