[1] The genus, which collectively has an almost cosmopolitan distribution, contains three squamulose lichens that prefer to grow on burned wood in temperate areas of the world.

Using molecular phylogenetic analysis, genus Carbonicola was shown outside to lie outside the Lecanoraceae, in a sister group position to a clade containing the Cladoniaceae and Stereocaulaceae.

The generic name Carbonicola combines the Latin roots carbo ("charcoal") and -cola ("dweller") to refer to burned wood, its preferred substrate.

[2] In 2017, Divakar and colleagues proposed to subsume the Carbonicolaceae into the Lecanoraceae, because in their analysis, genus Carbonicola was found to be nested in Lecanora in the broad sense.

This synonymy was not accepted in a review published soon afterwards, as the phylogenetic conclusions contradicted the findings of Bendiksby and Timdal, making such a decision premature.