The Peltigeraceae, which contains 15 genera and about 600 species, has recently (2018) been emended to include the families Lobariaceae and Nephromataceae.

Tripartite thalli involving fungus, green algae and cyanobacteria are common in this family.

The family Peltigeraceae was circumscribed by Belgian botanist Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier in 1822.

[3] In a later critical review of the use of this method for the biological classification of lichens, Robert Lücking considered this merge justified based on several characteristics shared by all three groups.

These include "the leathery structure of their usually large and conspicuous thalli, apothecial morphology and anatomy, ascus and ascospore type, and the fact that tripartite thalli or photosymbiodemes involving green algae and cyanobacteria are common".