However a combined DNA and morphological study of the subfamily Chrysophylloideae found the two main genera, Chrysophyllum and Pouteria, to be highly polyphyletic, and that C. imperiale is not closely related to other members of the genus but instead the genus Elaeoluma.
Because of this traditionally polyphyletic use, some scientists, such as Paul Sereno, reject the family name Megalosauridae in favor of Torvosauridae (coined by Jensen in 1985), despite the fact that Megalosauridae has priority under the ICZN rules governing family-level names in zoology.
However, zygomycota has been identified as polyphyletic, and is not included in modern fungal classification systems.
Phalagnostus nudus, the type species, was originally described as a species of Battus by Beyrich in 1845, but that name had already been used for a butterfly, and the trilobite genus was also deemed polyphyletic.
Researchers concerned more with ecology than with systematics may take polyphyletic groups as legitimate subject matter; the similarities in activity within the fungus group Alternaria, for example, can lead researchers to regard the group as a valid genus while acknowledging its polyphyly.
Among other things, he demonstrated the polyphyletic nature of the now-obsolete Rugaspidiotini using morphology.
In 1976 Seemannia was synonymized under the genus Gloxinia by gesneriad specialist Hans Wiehler but has more recently been revived following phylogenetic and morphological research on relationships of Gloxinia and related genera, which suggested that Wiehler's generic concept of Gloxinia was overly broad and polyphyletic.
However, mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data suggests that the White Wagtail is itself polyphyletic or paraphyletic (i.e. the species is not itself a single coherent grouping).
Genetic analysis revealed that Centaurium was polyphyletic, made up of plants that could be grouped into four clades.