The species was formally described as new to science in 2016 by lichenologists Christian Printzen, Tor Tønsberg, and Göran Thor.

The type specimen was collected on Moneron Island (Nevelsky District, Sakhalin) at an elevation between 150 and 200 m (490 and 660 ft); there, the lichen was found growing on bark at the base of an old Abies sachalinensis tree.

[1] The whitish to greenish-grey thallus surface of Biatora pacifica is thick, rough, and crumbling, (tartareous) with warts, and in rare instances forms areoles that are 0.1–0.25 mm in diameter.

The photobiont partner of the lichen is chlorococcoid (i.e., green algae with a coccoid or spherical shape), with individual algal cells measuring 5–13 μm in diameter.

The disc is dark grey or olive brown, flat to slightly convex, and roughly the same level as the apothecial margin.