[3][4] Pantherinae species are characterised by an imperfectly ossified hyoid bone with elastic tendons that enable their larynx to be mobile.

A vocal fold that is longer than 19 mm (0.75 in) enables all but the snow leopard among them to roar, as it has shorter vocal folds of 9 mm (0.35 in) that provide a lower resistance to airflow; this distinction was one reason it was proposed to be retained in the genus Uncia.

[23] Felis pamiri, first described in 1965 and once referred to as Metailurus in 1978, is now considered a probable relative of extant Pantherinae and was moved to the genus Miopanthera.

[17] P. blytheae was initially regarded as possibly the oldest known species of Panthera related to the modern snow leopard that lived during the Early Pliocene,[25] but subsequent studies have since agreed that it is not a member of or a related species of the snow leopard lineage and that it belongs to a different genus.

[27] The following table shows the extant taxa within the Pantherinae, grouped according to the traditional phenotypical classification.