The honeydew also attracts ants and wasps which feed on it. Adult scales are permanently affixed to the branches of the host. They range from pink-orange to dark brown in color. Immature and mature females are often covered with a white waxy bloom. The presence or absence of the wax is the major field character used to distinguish between the magnolia and the tuliptree scale, both of which feed on magnolia.
Immature scales are much more flattened than the adults, but still elliptical in shape.
The overwintering nymphs are dark bluish-black, about lmm long and clustered on twigs in incredible numbers. The magnolia scale reaches maturity in August each year. The females give birth to living young which remain under the parent scale covering for a short time. Crawlers move from the shelter of the female and migrate to the undersides of young twigs where they spend the winter. Once the crawler settles and begins to feed, it remains in the same spot for the remainder of its life.