Found in Europe, it was scientifically described as new to science in 2011 by Josef Halda, Paweł Czarnota, and Beata Guzow-Krzemińska.

The type specimen was collected in the Gratzen Mountains (Czech Republic) at an altitude of 805 m (2,641 ft), where it was found growing on the bark of a beech tree.

The thallus of the lichen consists of finger-like (dactyliform) to coral-like (coralloid) aggregations of goniocysts (clumps of photobiont cells surrounded by fungal hyphae) that form a roundish structure.

The species epithet flabelliformis refers to the fan-shaped (flabellate) form of the thallus branches.

[1] In addition to Europe, the lichen has also been recorded in eastern North America and the Russian Far East.