[2] It is common and widespread in the Neotropical realm, primarily found on trees in the shady understory and in slightly illuminated habitats of lowland to montane rainforests.

[3] The lichen was first formally described as a new species in 1915 by the Finnish lichenologist Edvard August Vainio, who initially classified it in the genus Chiodecton.

[4] The type specimen was collected in 1803 by the American botanist Stephen Elliott from the Laudat Mountain in the Lesser Antilles (now Dominica) at an elevation of 1,700 m (5,600 ft).

Molecular data has shown that H. antillarum does not align closely with the type species of Herpothallon (H. rubrocinctum) in the family Arthoniaceae.

The presence of a carbonised, fragile hypothallus in H. antillarum, a feature common in Diorygma species, along with its production of salazinic and norstictic acids, supports this reclassification.