The female of the species, like all argonauts, creates a paper-thin eggcase that coils around the octopus reminiscent of the way a nautilus lives in its shell (hence the name paper nautilus).

[1] This species seems to have a relatively limited distribution confined to the waters surrounding Western Mexico and Baja California.

For this reason, it is considered one of the rarest of the Argonauta species.

Further research is needed to determine whether it is a valid species or a synonym of the highly variable A. hians.

The type specimen is deposited at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.