[2] Although Massalongo did not designate a type species for the genus, Josef Poelt assigned G. aurea to that status in 1965.

[4] Gyalolechia was resurrected for use by Ulf Arup and colleagues in 2013, as part of a molecular phylogenetics-based restructuring of the Teloschistaceae.

[5][6] The thallus of Gyalolechia presents as a crust-like structure that can take on various forms, ranging from small scales to lobes resembling leaves.

Spores can take on fusiform (spindle-shaped), narrowly to broadly ellipsoid (similar to an elongated oval), or pyriform (pear-shaped) shapes.

The conidia, which are asexual spores produced within pycnidia, range in shape from bacilliform (rod-shaped) to ellipsoid.