The phylogenetic position of the lichen family Umbilicariaceae is investigated using nucleotide sequences of the nuclear SSU rDNA region. Sequences of 6 species were obtained in this study and aligned to those of other lichenized and non-lichenized fungal species from GenBank. The result indicates that the Umbilicariaceae cannot be included in the order Lecanorales and the order Umbilicariales is supported by both the molecular and morphological data. The new order Umbilicariales within Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota is described in this paper accordingly.