The genus was circumscribed in 2021 by David Hawksworth, Mark Powell, and Toby Spribille to contain the species formerly known as Lecidea lichenicola.

Further research showed that the earliest available name for this lichen is Lecidea obsoleta (originally described by William Nylander in 1865[2]), and so a modern collection was used to neotypify the species.

It forms part of a unique community of various verrucarioid species and has been classified in the Lecideetum watsoniae group, based on studies conducted in Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Surrey, and Sussex.

[3] This lichen is confirmed to exist only in southern and eastern England, with sightings in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Surrey, Sussex, and Yorkshire.

Over the past 50 years, it has disappeared from several locations in southern England, likely due to a decrease in rabbit grazing which allowed for more scrub growth.