It was first described scientifically in 1878 by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck, from collections made in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.

[2] Pier Andrea Saccardo transferred it to the genus Geopyxis in 1889.

[3] The fruitbodies of G. vulcanalis are small and cup-like, with a light yellow hymenium.

It grows on the ground in unburned conifer litter, often with mosses.

Its spores are smooth and elliptical, measuring 14–21 by 8–11 μm.