[5] This genus is characterized by their dark, olive-brown, 4-celled spores with a defined germ slit that are contained within a gelatinous sheath that they are forcibly ejected from and stick to nearby vegetation where they will hopefully be eaten and repeat their lifecycle.

[9] This association with herbivorous animals has allowed this fungus to be utilized in a paleontological context as a proxy for megafauna presence and abundance in the late Quaternary period.

[12] In 1972, Ahmed & Cain published a paper that refuted the presence of a stroma (although the dung surface was blackened) and triggered an investigation in the validity of the genus' establishment.

[4] In Sporormiella, the sexual stage (easiest to observe) consists of small, dark brown, and glabrous (smooth and without ornamentation) to hairy pseudothesia that are unilocular (single cavity) and contain bitunicate asci.

[7] They contain eight, dark to olive-brown ascospores that segmented into four cells and have a germ slit[5] that are ejected from the asci and pseudothecium upon maturity and the spore will stick to nearby vegetation to be eaten and digested.

[9] It is important to note they are not restricted to a specific taxonomic group and therefore can be consumed by a variety of organisms besides mammals including birds, reptiles, etc which allows this genus to potentially travel long distances.

[15] This generalist lifestyle has allowed these fungi to persist for thousands of years as part of the nutrient cycling system and has become of interest to scientists to indicate the presence and abundance of herbivores over time.

[9] The spore will stick to the vegetation until it succumbs to desiccation or is consumed by a herbivorous animal, where it will travel through the digestive tract; it is debated if this genus requires this stage for germination,[10] similarly to the phylum Neocallimastigomycota, or not.

[9] After excretion from the animal, the fungi will grow on the digested plant matter substrate via septated hyphae and eventually enter its sexual stage as a telomorph where it will produce its fruitbody in the form of a pseudothesia.

[16] While this genus may seem inconspicuous, it has become a popular proxy used by paleoecologists worldwide in the pursuit of gathering data on ancient herbivores, with a major focus on megafauna in North America during the Quaternary period.

A larger herbivorous biomass present in an area could be associated with a bigger production of excrement, allowing the proliferation of this genus to potentially represent general distribution patterns.