[1] It is a terrestrial alga commonly found in soils, from the tropics to the poles.

[3] Bracteacoccus consists of solitary, typically spherical cells from 4 to 110 μm in diameter.

Each cell has multiple chloroplasts lining the outer wall of the cell; each chloroplast is angular in shape and lacks pyrenoids.

[2] Morphologically, the genus is essentially indistinguishable from Pseudomuriella and Chromochloris, except for the fact that the latter two genera do not take up fluorescent dyes as easily.

[3] As of February 2022[update], AlgaeBase accepted the following species:[1] A further species, Bracteacoccus helveticus (Kol & F.Chodat) Starr, was regarded as of "uncertain taxonomic status".