This crustose lichen has a yellow-orange thallus that is placodioid in form (i.e., comprising lobes that radiate out from a centre).

The genus was circumscribed in 2014 by the lichenologists Sergey Kondratyuk, Ingvar Kärnefelt, John Elix, Arne Thell, and Jae-Seoun Hur.

The generic name honours Russian lichenologist Nina Golubkova (1932–2009), who, according to the authors, "made important contributions to lichenology in northern Eurasia".

[3] Golubkovia belongs to a clade contains the genus Xanthomendoza, with which it shares the characteristic of having a well-developed, thick layer of plectenchyma in the medulla.

[2] Golubkovia trachyphylla is a widely distributed lichen found in Asia and North America, where it grows on rocks in arid habitat.