Several characteristics of the spore-bearing structures, the ascomata, define the family, including their perithecioid form–more or less spherical or flask-shaped, with a single opening and otherwise completely enclosed by a wall.

Squamulose members of the Verrucariaceae with simple ascospores (lacking partitions called septa), and without algae in the spore-bearing region are known as catapyrenioid lichens; there are more than 80 of these species.

In his scheme, taxa were distributed between two taxonomic ranks intended as names of orders ("cohors"), the Dermatocarpeae and the Verrucariae, based on thallus structure.

Because Eschweiler published these taxa as "cohors", they do not meet the requirements of valid publication according to nomenclatural rules, and the authorship of the family cannot be attributed to him.

[6] Around this time, German lichenologist Georg Hermann Zschacke contributed the first extensive monographic series on the family in a set of publications from 1913 to 1927.

[6] Historically, there were three main morphological criteria used to separate genera in the Verrucariaceae: spore septation (the degree of partitioning by septa); the structure of the thallus; and the presence or absence of algae in the spore-bearing tissue, the hymenium.

[10] In 1953, Czech lichenologist Miroslav Servít proposed a new system of classification for the Verrucariaceae, based largely on characteristics of the involucrellum—the upper, often pigmented, part of the fruiting body covering the perithecia.

The huge amount of newly described taxa (families, genera, species, varieties or forms) and new combinations almost brought an end to good orientation necessary for new researchers.

[14] Studies have demonstrated several examples of cryptic species–genetically distinct lichens that are difficult or impossible to distinguish by morphology alone–in the genera Hydropunctaria,[15] Sporodictyon,[16] and Verrucaria.

[13] Placocarpus Verrucula Wahlenbergiella Bagliettoa Parabagliettoa Placidium Heteroplacidium Dermatocarpon Endocarpon, Neocatapyrenium Polyblastia Thelidium Atla Sporodictyon Henrica Verrucaria Trimmatothele Placopyrenium Verruculopsis Hydropunctaria Catapyrenium Placidiopsis Staurothele Staurothele group The first molecular phylogenetic studies involving the Verrucariaceae, published between 2001 and 2006, were used to show the higher-level relationships in the Eurotiomycetes.

[19][20][21][22][23][24][25] In 2007 and 2009 publications, Cécile Gueidan and colleagues used molecular data from 83 Verrucariaceae taxa to demonstrate that many of the morphologically defined genera were polyphyletic—of mixed evolutionary origins.

They proposed several taxonomic changes to more closely align the morphology-based classification with the molecular phylogeny, including the new genera Parabagliettoa, Hydropunctaria, and Wahlenbergiella and several new combinations.

Ancestral state reconstruction analysis suggests that the most recent common ancestor of the Verrucariaceae was probably crustose, had a weakly differentiated upper cortex, a hymenium free of algae, and simple ascospores (i.e., without septa).

[38] The ascomata are in the form of a perithecium, and these structures are often clypeate—meaning they have a shield-like stromatic growth, made of both fungal hyphae and host tissue, around the ostiole (opening).

[39] The perithecia have short pseudoparaphyses;[39] these vertical, filament-like support structures are similar to paraphyses but grow downwards in the perithecial cavity before ascus formation.

[6] Members of the Verrucariaceae that are squamulose, have simple ascospores (without any septa), and lack algae in the hymenium were historically classified in the genus Catapyrenium.

The so-called "catapyrenioid" lichens include members of Anthracocarpon, Catapyrenium, Heteroplacidium, Involucropyrenium, Neocatapyrenium, Placidiopsis, Placidium, and Scleropyrenium, and, as of 2010, numbered 81 species.

In Psoroglaena stigonemoides, the thallus consists of tiny coral-like branches of algal threads that are covered by a layer of pimpled (papillate) fungal hyphae.

These squamules have edges can extend upward to form structures similar in appearance to the basidiolichen species Lichenomphalia hudsoniana, or in other instances transform into soralia, somewhat resembling the leprose genus Lepraria.

[48][39][49] Research continues to reveal new symbiont relationships, such as the newly described (2022) green algal genus and species, Rindifilum ramosum (family Ctenocladaceae, order Ulvales), which associates with some members of Verrucaria.

[53] Because the fungus grows independently as mycelium in close contact with the algae, the interaction between Ascophyllum and verrucariacean fungi is not technically considered a lichen symbiosis.

[61] Several Verrucariaceae genera consist entirely of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungi: Bellemerella, Clauzadella, Haleomyces, Halospora, Norrlinia, Phaeospora, Telogalla.

In Traditional Chinese medicine, the lichen, known as "white stone ear" (皮果衣, pí guǒ yī), is used in treatments for high blood pressure, as a diuretic, for expelling parasites, for malnutrition in children, for dysentery, to improve digestion, and for abdominal distension.