The genus name of Pestalotiopsis is in honour of Fortunato Pestalozza (died 1878), who was an Italian botanist and doctor who worked in Constantinople and Antalya.

[2] The phylogenetic relationships of genus Pestalotiopsis and allied genera has been calculated from ribosomal DNA sequences and morphological characters in 2002.

This species was isolated from the grey-brown spots on the living leaves of Rhododendron maximum growing in North Carolina, USA.

have been isolated from a bronchial biopsy, corneal abrasions, eyes, feet, fingernails, scalp, and sinuses from the human body.

[7][8][9] Pestalotiopsis species occur as generalist endophytes in trees of Western Ghats forests of southern India.

[22] In the same year, Pestalotiopsis kenyana was found to cause leaf spot disease on Zanthoxylum schinifolium (a species of prickly ash) in Sichuan Province, China.

[23] Some members of the genus are able to grow on the synthetic polymer polyurethane as the sole carbon source under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, hence show promise as a form of bioremediation for waste reduction.

[26][27] As accepted by Species Fungorum;[28] A phylogenetic analysis in 2013 with some of the Pestalotiopsis species are found in the following tree:[29] P. trachicarpicola P. rhodomytrus P. rosea P. adusta P. chinensis P. verruculosa P. intermedia P. linearis P. unicolor P. clavata P. inflexa P. diversiseta P. jesteri P. chrysea P. umberspora P. asiatica P. coffeae-arabicae P. clavispora P. ellipsospora P. foedans P. saprophya P. theae