[1] Niebla effusa was first recognized as a distinct species from a related species, Niebla josecuervoi, before it was described as a result of collecting lichen samples near Cerro Solo in northern Baja California for a biodiversity screening of lichens—in the search of new drugs by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Natural Products Branch to treat HIV.

Niebla effusa seems to have been recognized earlier as a terricolous species that forms extensive mats “on beach terrace deposits atop coastal bluffs south of El Rosario and beyond, often in densities great enough to color the landscape yellow-green," based on study of lichen communities further north around Bahía de San Quintín.

[1] These species were recognized as Niebla pulchribarbara, which the type reportedly contained protocetraric acid, a rare chemotype for the genus not found south of Bahía de San Quintín.

[1] Another terricolous species, containing sekikaic acid, occurred at Bahía de San Quintín,[3] described as Niebla palmeri.

[1] Niebla effusa is a characteristic lichen of the transition zone from the California Floristic Province to the Northern Vizcaíno Desert.