[2] The genus was circumscribed by Norwegian lichenologist Per Magnus Jørgensen in 1994, with Fuscopannaria leucosticta assigned as the type species.

The lower surface is often attached to the substrate by a dark blue to blue-black hypothallus, a mat of fungal filaments that may be visible between the individual scales of the thallus.

These apothecia have a reddish-brown to black disc and may have a surrounding thalline margin that is similar in colour to the main body of the lichen.

The hymenium, the spore-producing layer, reacts with iodine (I+) by turning blue-green before shifting to red-brown, a property known as hemiamyloidy.

Asexual reproduction occurs through conidia—small, rod-shaped spores produced in pycnidia, which are flask-shaped structures embedded within the thallus.