Based on the analysis of DNA–DNA hybridization data the genus was placed with the Paradisaeidae birds of paradise by Sibley and Ahlquist. Frith and Frith felt these conclusions were not supported by aspects of the behaviour and biology (although they argued it may have been related to the recently split Cnemophilidae birds of paradise). More recent studies have refuted the relationship with the whipbirds and jewel-babblers, and instead consistently shown a relationship as the sister taxa to a group of families including the drongos, fantails, monarch flycatchers, Corcoracidae (the white-winged chough and apostlebird of Australia) and the birds of paradise again. The fact that the melampittas do not closely resemble these families (except the Corcoracidae and to a lesser extent the birds of paradise) may be due to adaptations to terrestrial living, compared to the other families which are mostly arboreal. Given the distinctiveness of the two melampittas it was suggested that the genus be placed its own family, and a new family, Melampittidae, was formally erected in 2014 by Richard Schodde and Leslie Christidis.