The cane beetle grub feeds on the roots of the sugarcane during all three stages of its life.

The crucial stage occurs during February to May, when it aggressively feeds on the sugarcane's roots, causing the most damage to the plant.

The pupa develops into an adult within a month, but does not emerge from the soil until the weather conditions are adequate.

[1] Methods of control include applications of Metarhizium anisopliae, along with other biocontrol strategies,[2] but pest control against cane beetles also damages a large variety of other insects and invertebrates that can be beneficial to the ecosystem, thus preventing their use.

Native predators such as quolls (Dasyurus, "marsupial cat") neither possess resistance to its toxins nor have learned avoidance; thus, these predators became locally extinct upon arrival of toads and suffered overall population declines – up to 97% for the northern quoll.