The genus is widely distributed in northern temperate regions, and according to one estimate, contains eight species.

In the early 1950s, French mycologist Marcelle Louise Fernande Le Gal used the generic name Sarcosoma to treat several species that she did not think belonged in the same genus as Sarcosoma globosum, the type species.

[4] Korf and Nannfield proposed Galiella to accommodate these species, and set G. rufa as the type.

The generic name honors French mycologist Marcelle Louise Fernande Le Gal.

[5] Galiella includes bulgarioid species (those with a morphology similar to those in Bulgaria) with spores featuring surface warts that are made of callose-pectic substances that stain with methyl blue dye.