[2] It was first described by the French entomologist Victor Antoine Signoret in 1869 using Latania lontaroides, a species of palm tree endemic to Réunion as its host; since then, it has been found on avocado trees growing in South Africa, Australia, Israel, the United States,[1] and on a range of other plants in many parts of the world.

Armored scales retain the exuviae (shed cuticles) from the first one or two nymphal stages, and sometimes faecal matter and fragments of the host plant, incorporating these into a hard, protective cover.

[3] The adult female palm scale has no wings or legs and is somewhat variable in appearance depending on where it is living; if feeding on leaves, the scale cover is circular and convex, and its colour tends to be greyish-white, while on twigs, branches and fruits, the cover is usually brownish and only moderately convex.

[4] It is a major pest of kiwifruit, citrus, coconut, Melia azedarach (chinaberry), avocado, guava and grape.

[4] The organism may have a mutualistic relationship with a fungus, Septobasidium, which can protect them from predators such as aphelinid wasps and lady beetles like Aphytis diaspidis and Chilocorus stigma, and overgrow the colony completely obscuring them from view entirely, but this may stunt the growth of scale insects infected by the fungus as a side effect.