The genus was circumscribed by Carl Ludwig von Reichenbach in 1841.[2]
Laurera was traditionally separated from other corticate members of Trypetheliaceae mainly by its muriform (many-celled) ascospores and by ascomata (fruiting bodies) that open through separate, apical ostioles. More recent molecular work suggests that these morphological boundaries do not match evolutionary relationships across the family. Using a two-locus phylogeny (mtSSU and nrLSU) with broad sampling across Trypetheliaceae, Lücking and colleagues (2016) recovered species historically placed in Laurera within a wider, well-supported Astrothelium lineage, and treated Laurera as a synonym of Astrothelium (along with Cryptothelium and Campylothelium). Under this approach, most species once assigned to Laurera are placed in Astrothelium, while the former Laurera purpurina group is recognized in the separate genus Marcelaria.[3]
