It can be found in numerous tropical areas around the world, and in the United States, and is a major pest of maize.

[3] This species attacks both standing crops and stored cereal products, including wheat, rice, sorghum,[4][5][6] oats, barley, rye, buckwheat,[6] peas, and cottonseed.

The maize weevil also infests other types of stored, processed cereal products such as pasta, cassava,[5] and various coarse, milled grains.

[9][10][8][7] S. zeamais occurs throughout warm, humid regions around the world, especially in locations where maize is grown,[2] including: Polynesia, Brazil, Argentina, Burma, Cambodia, Greece, Japan, Morocco, Spain, Syria, Turkey, United States, former countries of the USSR, Sub Saharan Africa and former countries of Yugoslavia.

She then deposits a small oval white egg, and covers the hole as the ovipositor is removed, with a waxy secretion that creates a plug.

When the egg hatches into a white, legless grub, it will remain inside and begin feeding on the grain.

The larvae will pupate while inside, then chew a circular exit hole,[1] and emerge as an adult beetle.

It infests raw or processed cereals such as wheat, oats, barley, sorghum, rye and buckwheat.

It can breed in crops with a moisture content of a much wider range than S. oryzae, and has been found in fruit, such as apples during storage.