Though this may reduce the vigor and overall appearance of the tree, the overall effect on the tree's health is not severe. However, the twigs are unsightly and do not fall all at once so clean-up is a drawn out process. This beetle has a one year life cycle. Late in the growing season, the female deposits eggs in small scars chewed through the bark and then chews a continuous notch around the twig, girdling it. The notch is cut below the site of egg deposition apparently because the larva is unable to complete development in the presence of large amounts of sap.
Girdled twigs die and fall to the ground where the eggs hatch.
Girdled twigs look like a beaver has worked on it only in miniature. The outside of the twig is smoothly cut but the center of the twig has a broken appearance. The larvae begin feeding on dead wood inside the twigs the following spring and continue through most of the summer. Pupation takes place inside the feeding cavity. Development is completed during August when the adult emerges to repeat the cycle.