Found in Sri Lanka, it was formally described as a new species in 2014 by lichenologists Gothamie Weerakoon, Robert Lücking, and Helge Thorsten Lumbsch.

The type specimen was collected from a high-elevation tea estate in Matale (Central Province) at an altitude of 1,360 m (4,460 ft).

The specific epithet raveniana honours botanist and environmentalist Peter H. Raven, longtime director and now President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Ocellularia raveniana has a cream-colored to white thallus up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, with an uneven to somewhat verrucose (warty) surface.

Its ascospores are hyaline, oblong to ellipsoid in shape, contain seven to nine septa, and measure 25–35 by 8–10 μm.