Traditionally, it was a large subfamily, comprising all those species with winged or more rarely naked seeds.

Molecular phylogenetic studies showed that traditional Pitcairnioideae was not monophyletic, and the subfamily was more narrowly circumscribed.

A molecular phylogenetic study in 2007 showed that traditional Pitcairnioideae was not monophyletic, with Tillandsioideae embedded within it.

The original broadly defined subfamily was divided it into six, including a more narrowly circumscribed Pitcairnioideae.

[1] The division was confirmed in a larger 2011 study,[2] and is accepted by the Encyclopaedia of Bromeliads, which includes five genera in Pitcairnioideae.