[2] It was transferred to the newly circumscribed genus Variospora in 2013 following a molecular phylogenetic study of the family Teloschistaceae.

[3] Variospora aegaea has a yellowish to brownish-orange thallus that is placodioid with an areolate centre and a lobed margin.

The algal layer (containing the photobiont partner), about 100 μm thick, contains scattered bundles of periclinal hyphae.

[3] Variospora aegaea occurs mostly on the horizontal faces of rocks and boulders at altitudes between 5 and 150 m (16 and 492 ft), usually at locations not far from the sea.

It has been found in Paros, Antiparos and Kalimnos in the Aegean Sea, as well as Sardinia, Italy, and in southeastern Spain.