[3] The genus name of Hariotina is in honour of Paul Auguste Joseph Valentin Hariot (1854-1917), who was a French naturalist, botanist (Bryology, and Algology) and apothecary.

In 1882, he worked in the Cryptogam department of the National Museum of Natural History, France in Paris.

Species of Hariotina are typically found in stagnant water in tropical or subtropical regions.

[3] Hariotina consists of free-living colonies (called coenobia) of four, eight, 16, 32, or (rarely) 64 cells organized into a hollow sphere.

However, a combination of molecular markers (18S rDNA, ITS, and tufA) appears to be the most reliable way to identify species.