[4] Ulf Arup and colleagues transferred the taxon to the genus Variospora in 2013, following a molecular phylogenetics-based restructuring of the family Teloschistaceae.

[5] Variospora thallincola is characterised by its placodioid, bright orange thallus that forms closely appressed, circular structures resembling cartwheels, each measuring 3–4 cm in diameter.

The thallus features convex, finger-like lobe ends, around 0.3–0.7 mm broad, which lie closely together and are separated by frequently parallel furrows.

[6] The species develops apothecia, the fruiting structures, which can be up to 0.8 mm in diameter and are generally scattered across the central area of the thallus.

[6] Found on rocky coasts with siliceous stone, Variospora thallincola typically grows in the mesic to submesic-supralittoral zones.