French priest and naturalist Armand David collected a specimen of the species during one of his trips through Imperial China in the 1860s and 1870s.

He found the beetle in Beijing and sent it to France, where the first brief description of Agrilus planipennis by the entomologist Léon Fairmaire was published in the Revue d'Entomologie in 1888.

Emerald ash borer is the only North American species of Agrilus with a bright red upper abdomen when viewed with the wings and elytra spread.

The species also has a small spine found at the tip of the abdomen and serrate antennae that begin at the fourth antennal segment.

After emergence, adults feed for one week on ash leaves in the canopy before mating, but cause little defoliation in the process.

[7] In fall, mature fourth-instars excavate chambers about 1.25 cm (0.49 in) into the sapwood or outer bark where they fold into a J-shape.

[10] The native range of the emerald ash borer is temperate north-eastern Asia, which includes Russia, Mongolia, northern China, Japan, and Korea.

Populations are more scattered outside the core area, and the edges of its known distribution range north to Ontario, south to northern Louisiana, west to Nebraska, and east to New Brunswick.

[10] From 2003 to 2016, this population has spread west towards the European Union at up to 40 km (25 mi) per year and is expected to reach central Europe between 2031 and 2036.

[10][25] Ash susceptibility can vary depending on the attractiveness of chemical volatiles to adults, or the ability of larvae to detoxify phenolic compounds.

Ashes used in landscaping also tend to be subjected to higher amounts of environmental stresses including compacted soil, lack of moisture, heating effects from urban islands, road salt, and pollution, which may also reduce their resistance to the borer.

Girdled ashes will often attempt to regenerate through stump sprouting, and there is evidence that stressed trees may also generate higher than normal seed crops as an emergency measure.

Although studies of American ashes have suggested that they are capable of mustering similar defensive mechanisms, the trees do not appear to recognize when they are under attack.

[33] Many of the specialized predators and parasitoids that suppressed emerald ash borer in Asia were not present in North America.

Predators and parasitoids native to North America do not sufficiently suppress emerald ash borer, so populations continue to grow.

Birds such as woodpeckers feed on emerald ash borer larva, although the adult beetles have not been used by any American fauna as food.

[8] It primarily spreads through flight or by transportation of ash bark containing products such as firewood or nursery stock, which allows it to reach new areas and create satellite populations outside of the main infestation.

[10] North American predators and parasitoids can occasionally cause high emerald ash borer mortality, but generally offer only limited control.

The impact this has on the wildlife is extreme because of all the animals that used every part of the tree as refuge, such as birds in the foliage, small rodents amongst the roots, etc.

[8] Government agencies in both the U.S. and Canada have utilized a native species of parasitoid wasp, Cerceris fumipennis, as a means of detecting areas to which emerald ash borer has spread.

Volunteers catch the wasps as they return to their burrows carrying the beetles to determine whether emerald ash borer is present.

Once an infestation is detected, quarantines are typically imposed by state, or previously, national government agencies disallowing transport of ash firewood or live plants outside of these areas without permits indicating the material has been inspected or treated (i.e., heat treatment or wood chipping) to ensure no live emerald ash borer are present in the bark and phloem.

[29][43] In urban areas, trees are often removed once an infestation is found to reduce emerald ash borer population densities and the likelihood of further spread.

Urban ash are typically replaced with non-ash species such as maple, oak, or linden to limit food sources.

[45] Kentucky Extension specialists suggest selecting uncommon species to replace removed ashes in the landscape.

[51] Tetrastichus planipennisi and Oobius agrili established and have had increasing populations in Michigan since 2008; Spathius agrili has had lower establishment success in North America, which could be caused by a lack of available emerald ash borer larvae at the time of adult emergence in spring, limited cold tolerance, and better suitability to regions of North America below the 40th parallel.

[51] The USDA is also assessing the application of Beauveria bassiana, an insect fungal pathogen, for controlling emerald ash borer in conjunction with parasitoid wasps.