Definitive members are known from South America,[4] though some researchers include taxa from other continents within this subfamily based on phylogenetic analyses.

[6] The subfamily is distinguished from other dromaeosaurids by a tail stiffened by lengthy chevrons and superior processes, a reduced second pedal ungual, a posteriorly oriented pubis and very elongated snouts.

Their distinct anatomy from Laurasian dromaeosaurids was likely a consequence of the breakup of Pangaea into Gondwana and Laurasia, where the geological isolation of unenlagiines from their relatives resulted in allopatric speciation.

[9] Austroraptor Buitreraptor Pyroraptor Pamparaptor Rahonavis Dakotaraptor Unenlagia A study performed by Gianechini and colleagues in 2020 indicates that unenlagiine dromaeosaurids of Gondwana possessed different hunting specializations than the eudromaeosaurs from Laurasia.

These differences in locomotor and predatory specializations may have been a key feature that influenced the evolutionary paths that shaped both groups of dromaeosaurs in the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively.