It was circumscribed by Swiss mycologist Victor Fayod in 1889 for Conocybe-like species with partial veils.

[3] The genus Pholiotina is defined as small thin Mycena-like mushrooms, with an hymenoderm pileipellis, a dry cap surface, cystidia that are sub-capitate to blunt, and spores which are rusty brown in deposit.

Spores of mushrooms of this genus are thick walled, smooth and have a germ pore.

The two genera can be distinguished microscopically: Pholiotina contains a differentiated central zone called a mediostratum that is lacking in Conocybe.

[4] In a 2007 publication, Hausknecht and Krisai-Greilhuber devised an infrageneric classification that includes the sections Piliferae and Vestitae, and the series Aeruginosa, Aporos, Appendiculata, Brunnea, Coprophila, Filipes, Keniensis, Mairei, Pygmaeoaffinis, Resinosocystidiata, Sulcata, Teneroides, Utriformis, and Vexans.