After observing the microorganisms, the authors assigned them to a new species Barthelona vulgaris and published the description in 2000.

[1] Since the identification of B. vulgaris was purely based on observations under light microscopy, it was treated as a morphospecies.

This morphospecies was later identified at other geographical locations, but it was never genetically sequenced, and consequently its evolutionary position remained uncertain.

In 2020, five strains of Barthelona were isolated and genetically sequenced in order to reveal their phylogenetic position.

They form a clade informally known as "barthelonids", resolved as the sister group to the Fornicata within the phylum Metamonada.