[3] Taitaia aurea was first formally described by mycologists Ave Suija, Ulla Kaasalainen, Paul Kirika, and Jouko Rikkinen.

The species epithet aurea is a reference to the golden yellow colour of the margins of the fungal fruiting bodies.

[4] The type specimen was found in Taita-Taveta Province, near the summit of Vuria in a dense moist forest populated with Maesa lanceolata, Nuxia congesta and Dracaena afromontana.

[3] The hymenium, or fertile layer of the ascoma, comprises unitunicate, non-amyloid asci (sac-like structures in which spores are formed), and simple, septate paraphyses.

The ascomata of Taitaia aurea are closely associated with the internal cephalodia of the host, structures containing a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium called Nostoc.