Closely related to Graphis schiffneri, the lichen is distinguished from this lookalike by its longer ascospores with more septa (internal partitions) and extended lirellae (fruiting bodies).

First identified in Nicaragua, near the Pacific coast at Playa El Coco, about 18 km (11 mi) south of San Juan del Sur, the type specimen was collected by the second author on 19 July 2001.

It has a greyish-white, smooth, and slightly rimose (cracked) appearance, thinly coated with a cortex containing an irregular algal layer and calcium oxalate crystals.

[2] Graphis paraschiffneri shares characteristics with G. schiffneri in terms of norstictic acid presence, slightly striate labia, a completely carbonised excipulum, and transversely septate ascospores.

Another related species, Graphis caesiocarpa, differs in having richly branched lirellae and entire, white-pruinose labia with a complete thalline cover.