Common hosts include cherry, peach, plum, apple and pear.
Shothole borers overwinter as larvae in their feeding tunnels under the bark of host trees. They pupate in the spring and adults emerge in April or May. After mating, the female beetle bores through the bark and constructs an egg gallery parallel with the grain of the wood between the bark and cambium layer. The larvae feed for about one month in tunnels under the bark. After pupating and transforming to adults they chew small round holes through the bark and emerge. These small holes are the source of the common name. There are probably three or four generations per year in Oklahoma.
Most of the damage is done by the larvae feeding between the bark and wood of the trunk or limbs of host trees. This damage eventually girdles the limb or trunk and kills the affected part. Adult emergence holes through the bark give the appearance of a "shotgun's" blast leaving "shot holes." The shothole borer chiefly attacks trees that have been weakened by the attacks of other borers or scale insects, winter injury, drought, disease, unsuitable soil conditions, or mechanical injury.
Since the borer usually restricts its attack to weakened trees, the best means of controlling it is to do everything possible to keep the trees in a high state of vigor. This includes pruning, cultivation, fertilizing, and watering the orchard when needed. Remove individual limbs which are affected; pull up and burn seriously devitalized trees. Chemical control is not usually effective against this insect.