In 2000 Kellner reassessed the genus and concluded that precisely because of such a lack of autapomorphies (unique characters), it could not be synonymised with Santanadactylus and gave its position after a cladistic analysis as close to Anhangueridae, more derived than Istiodactylus.
Palaeoartist Gregory S. Paul placed dromaeosaurids in Archaeopterygiformes for these reasons, though the eventual cladistic definition of Archaeopterygidae explicitly excluded them.
In 2003, O.W.M. Rauhut, using a cladistic analysis, found Coeluridae to include Coelurus (Late Jurassic, North America), Compsognathus (Late Jurassic, Europe), Sinosauropteryx (Early Cretaceous, Asia) and an unnamed Compsognathus-like form (Early Cretaceous, South America; this dinosaur has since been placed in the new genus Mirischia).
Recent cladistic analysis of mtDNA cytochrome b, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2, as well as nuclear β-fibrinogen intron 7 sequence data, combined with a distinct morphology and behaviour, suggest that the genus is valid but not monotypic.
This means that the Pyrotheria can be members of no less than three major cladistic branches of placential mammals: Meridiungulata (if xenungulates are the closest relatives), Laurasiatheria (if dinoceratans are the closest relatives) and Afrotheria (if embrithopods are the closest relatives).