[3] The species was originally described from Pennsylvania in 1832 by American mycologist Lewis David de Schweinitz.

[4] Initial molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, indicates that C. aurantiocinnabarina is part of a complex of related species.

[3] The fruit body of Clavulinopsis aurantiocinnabarina is cylindrical, orange to orange-red, up to 80 x 6 mm, growing singly or in small clusters.

[5] Clavulinopsis fusiformis is similarly shaped, but fruit bodies are yellow rather than orange and typically appear in dense, fasciculate (closely bunched) clusters.

[3] The species complex is widespread within this area and C. aurantiocinnabarina sensu lato has also been reported from Central America and the Caribbean,[6] Brazil,[7] China,[8] and Malaysia.