It is native to central and northern Europe and Asia but was accidentally introduced into North America where it has become invasive.

Antennae are black and bipectinate (feather-like), and legs are yellow except for the trochanters and the base of the femora which are brownish-black.

[3] D. similis is native to central and northern Europe (including Fennoscandia), Russian Siberia (as far as the Lake Baikal region), and China.

It was first detected in North America in 1914 in Connecticut and has since spread to much of the eastern United States and Canada, wherever Pinus strobus is to be found.

Diprion similis is arrhenotokous, that is it exhibits a form of parthenogenesis in which unfertilized eggs develop into male offspring.

The second generation tends to drop to the ground and spend the winter in a cocoon as a prepupa, pupating in the spring.