It feeds on tamarisk trees from Portugal, Spain and France to Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Iraq.

Similar to the northern tamarisk beetle, adults begin to enter diapause in the late summer and early fall, ceasing reproduction and feeding to build fat bodies before seeking a protected place to overwinter (Lewis et al. 2003).

Larvae and adults are sensitive to shorter daylengths as the summer progresses that signal the coming of winter and induce diapause (Bean et al. in prep.).

Establishment of the STB as a biological control agent for tamarisk along the Rio Grande in West Texas was confirmed in 2010 (Knutson 2010).

Populations of STB from around 35°N latitude near Sfax, Tunisia were initially released by the USDA Agricultural Research Service in south Texas in 2005, but failed to establish.

During the spring and summer of 2009, populations from around 34° latitude near Marith, Tunisia were released in south and west Texas (Tracy and Robbins 2009).

These populations were showing promising signs of establishment on the Rio Grande, such as near Presidio, Texas at Alamito Marsh, by the fall of 2009 (MacCormack 2009).

In some areas, tamarisk may be replaced by grasslands or shrublands, resulting in losses of riparian forest habitats for birds (Tracy and DeLoach 1999).