The genus was circumscribed by William Alphonso Murrill in 1905 with Earliella cubensis as the type species.

The type collection was made in Cuba by Murrill and Franklin Sumner Earle, for whom the genus is named.

[6] The chemical constituents and antioxidant activity of the essential oil extracted from fruit bodies of Earliella scabrosa has been characterized.

[7] In 2017, a case report documented E. scabrosa as the cause of cutaneous fungal septic emboli in an immunocompromised child, which, despite antifungal treatment, later resulted in death.

[8] A year later, the fungus was determined to be the cause of a human eye infection (endophthalmitis) resulting after intraocular lens implantation.