Gray recognized the cone-inhabiting fungus as a new genus, named after its type species, Auriscalpium vulgare.

The type species, A. vulgare, is a common, easily identified fungus in the Northern Hemisphere found fruiting exclusively on mature, fallen, often buried conifer cones.

Its wiry, long hairy stipe is topped by an eccentrically placed, shaggy pileus bearing the pendant, flexible, spore-bearing spines.

Other species in the genus do not occur on cones or lack the eccentric pileus on a long stalk.

According to the Dictionary of the Fungi (10th edition, 2008), the genus contains eight widely distributed species.