Tetraroginae, or Tetrarogidae, was first formally recognised as a taxonomic grouping in 1949 by the South African ichthyologist J.L.B.

[4] A recent study placed the waspfishes into an expanded stonefish clade, within the family Synanceiidae, because all of these fish have a lachrymal sabre that can project a switch-blade-like mechanism out from underneath their eye.

[5][6] The name of the subfamily is based on the genus name Tetraroge, which was described in 1860 by Albert Günther and its name means "four clefts", an allusion to the four clfts in the gills in comparison to the five clefts in the gills of Pentaroge, now regarded as a synonym of Gymnapistes.

[8] Tetraroginae waspfishes have compressed bodies with heads typically with ridges and spines.

[4] They are demersal fishes, mostly marine,[9] but some species will live in brackish water with one, the bullrout (Notesthes robusta) spending much of its life in the freshwater reaches of rivers.