The lichen was formally described as new to science in 2014 by lichenologists Sergey Kondratyuk, Laszlo Lőkös, Soon-Ok Oh, and Jae-Seoun Hur.

The species epithet yurii honours Yury Kondratyuk from Vladivostok, who helped the authors with lichen collections in Primorsky.

[2] The next year they transferred it to Dibaeis after they sequenced some specimens and molecular phylogenetics analysis showed it to be a member of that genus.

[2] A somewhat similar species is Ochrolechia inaequatula, found in Asia, Europe, Greenland, and North America, where it inhabits coastal cliff tops and mountains, growing on the ground in close association with or encrusting mosses, Cladonia species, and plant detritus.

[2] Dibaeis yurii is found in the Khasansky district of Primorsky region of the Russian Far East, and from Chuja-do Island in South Korea.