The name of this genus is derived from the name of a tibeto-Burmese ethnic minority, the Padaung, located in Burma.

[2] Padaungiella is closely related to genera Apodera and Alocodera, both by similar morphology of their shell[3] and by evolutionary proximity.

[6] They are distributed worldwide, as they have been reported in Sphagnum-dominated bogs of Russian Fennoscandia (specifically Republic of Karelia and Murmansk Oblast),[7] Austria,[8] Great Britain,[9] the São Miguel Island in the Azores archipelago,[10] Colombia,[11] and even Antarctica,[12] as well as closely located islands such as Guadeloupe, Martinique and the French Southern Territories.

[14] These authors noticed that in 1942 Jung had described the genus Schaudinnia to accommodate some Nebela species with distinctively long necks and bottle-shaped shells: N. lageniformis, N. tubulata and N.

[2] In her PhD thesis published in 2014, protistologist Anush Kosakyan included another six species: P. cordiformis, P. himalayana, P. longicollis, P. longitubulata, P. pulcherrima and P. varia, transferred from Nebela.