The species of this family have a cosmopolitan distribution and have been found in a variety of climatic regions.

[2] Pilocarpaceae was circumscribed by Alexander Zahlbruckner in Adolf Engler's influential 1905 work Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien.

[3] In 2004, the family Micareaceae included the genera; Helocarpon, Micarea, Psilolechia, Roccellinastrum, and Scutula.

[5] Pilocarpaceae species are crustose and have ascomata in the form of an brightly-coloured apothecium with a poorly-developed margin comprising loosely-intertwined hyphae.

The following list shows the genera, authority, year of publication, and number of species as of 2020[6] (unless a newer source is cited).