[2][3][4] Praenuculinae fossils are found in Europe, Africa, North America and South America,[5] and species are thought to have been stationary attached to substrate in shallow infaunal marine water environments where they formed shells of an aragonite composition.

Leo Pfab in 1934 erected the genus Praeleda from bohemian fossils which had been placed as the species Nucula compar by Joachim Barrande.

The 1969 Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology volume on bivalves placed Praeleda as a synonym of the genus Deceptrix, a placement that was not fully accepted by subsequent authors.

[8] Both Paulinea and Pensarnia were described by Cope in 1997 from fossils found in early Arenig sediments of South Wales.

[9] The genus Eritropis was formerly included in the subfamily, however it was moved to a new family, Eritropidae by John C. Cope in 2000.