When Stein (in Becker 1908) described the new species Fannia pubescens on the basis of a single male from Tenerife, he also noted that he has a few specimens from continental Europe. In an "Anmerkung" (= note) below his original description he writes:

"Durch meinen Freund Kowarz bin ich im Besitz einer um Franzensbad in Böhmen gefangenen Fannia, die in allen plastischen Merkmalen mit der vorbeschriebenen übereinstimmt und sich nur durch etwas hellere Schüppchen unterscheidet. Ein gleiches Stück schickte mir Herr Kuntze zu, welches in Gr. Hennersdorf bei Dresden gefangen ist. Ich halte beide für identisch mit der vorigen Art" (translation: "By courtesy of my friend Kowarz I own a Fannia that has been collected near Franzensbad in Bohemia, which agrees in all morphological characters with the species described above and differs only by having the squamae a bit lighter. An identical specimen was sent to me by Mr. Kuntze, that has been collected in Groß-Hennersdorf near Dresden. I consider both specimens to be identical with the species above").

Many authors have followed Stein in his notion that his Fannia pubescens is not restricted to the Canary Islands, but is also found elsewhere in Europe. For example, Karl (1928) in his treatment of the Fannidae of Germany, includes Fannia pubescens and adds further finds from Essen (Nordrhein-Westfalen) and from Oberlausitz (contemporary border region between Germany and Poland). It was Collin (1958) who realized that the continental specimens were in fact not conspecific with the Canary Island specimens. The Canary Islands species retains the name Fannia pubescens, but the continental Europe species was described as a new species, Fannia subpubescens, in order to emphasize its close relationship with Fannia pubescens.

Fannia subpubescens has been recorded so far in: Czech Republic, Germany, France, Great Britain, Poland, Sweden and Finland, and a doubtful record from Pakistan. There is also a recent record from Spain (Carles-Tolra and Verdugo Paez 2010).