Hippocrateoideae is one of three morphologically distinct and monophyletic subfamilies embedded in the large, paraphyletic subfamily Celastroideae.

For example, the American ground and quail doves, which are usually placed in the Columbinae, seem to be two distinct subfamilies.

An analysis of the phyletic patterns suggests that the p24 family had already differentiated into at least four distinct subfamilies in the common ancestor of plants, animals and fungi.

There are two distinct subfamilies in the Nemopteridae family:

The type II hair keratins are clustered in a region of chromosome 12q13 and are grouped into two distinct subfamilies based on structure similarity.

The vertebrates possess two other distinct subfamilies that appear to have been derived from the LRAT family (Figure 4).

Three distinct subfamilies are usually recognized: Finno-Permic, Ugric, and Samoyedic.

The p24 proteins belong to at least four distinct subfamilies [ 8, 12] and form hetero-oligomeric complexes that contain at least one member from each subfamily.

Tinamous form an order (Tinamiformes) comprising a single family, with two distinct subfamilies, containing 47 species of birds found in Central and South America.

Historically, this group had been considered a separate family, Danaidae, and the tribes placed herein were sometimes considered distinct subfamilies in the Nymphalidae.