When citrus orchards were first established in New Zealand, this beetle started inflicting serious damage, and so gained the name "lemon tree borer".

[3] When disturbed by predators or humans, the adult beetle stridulates creating a "rasp" or "squeak" sound by rubbing its thorax and head together against an area of thin ridges.

Adults: The lemon tree borer is a plain looking, medium to large sized beetle, reaching 15 to 25 mm (0.6–1.0 in) long.

[10] Adults can vary from red-brown to almost black in colour, with patches of pale yellow hairs on the head and scutellum, which is a small spot on their back where the thorax joins the elytra (hard wing cases).

[5][11] Females are larger and heavier than males, but have proportionally shorter antennae, but the sex can only be reliably determined by looking at the genitalia using a microscope.

Eggs: White and large (2.0-2.2mm) with a fine waxy surface pattern, they are laid singly in leaf or stem junctions, pruning and cicada scars, damaged bark or dead twigs on the outer edge of trees.

[5][9] Body is cylindrical with each thoracic and abdominal segment having a swollen transverse ridge; an enlarged head holds gouge-like mandibles (biting jaws) which are large but short and dark brown to black.

[5][2] When disturbed, larvae are able to move surprisingly fast due to dorsal and ventral muscle ridges gripping its surroundings.

[9][2] The beetle shape is more obvious in the pupal stage, showing long antennae folded adjacent to the body and larger legs bended in.

[15] They eat the wood, creating long tunnels with side galleries and holes for excretion of frass and aeration to discourage fungal growth.

[8] Majority of males conduct mate-guarding as post-mating behaviour for approximately 20 minutes after mating by staying on the back of the female or remaining close by to ensure his sperm alone will father their off-spring.

[20] This makes them high on international security threat lists as new introductions from accidental imports would result in devastating loss to timber and horticultural industries.

[22] The latest specimen was found in an imported wisteria plant from NZ and classified as a devastating pest for the agricultural industry, if it were to settle.

Adults can be found in orchards, and gardens feeding on plants too, but are far less destructive than the larvae, instead consuming pollen and nectar of native and exotic flowers.

[3][20] Exotic - Citrus, lemon, orange, tangelos, grape, apple, gooseberry, tamarillo, cherry, fig, peach, pomegranate, plum, blueberry, persimmon, camellia, elm, wisteria, willow, hakea, poplar, tree lucerne, almond, walnut, chestnut, and macadamia.

[31] This has made them a substantial commercial and biosecurity pest as their potential for wide spread crop damage both in New Zealand and overseas is high.

[16][14] As such, quarantine regulations have to be observed when exporting these crops overseas to reduce the risk of O. hirta being accidentally introduced, as they would be able to establish quickly.

[32] As the larva tunnels through the living branches of young hardwood trees and vines, the stems weaken, dry and break.

[19] Larvae are not easily seen as they live deep in the wood making their natural behaviour hard to observe and creating difficulty for people to control them as a pest.

[8] The usual way of dealing with insect pests is to spray chemicals, this may be effective for the adults, however this is time-consuming and ineffective as the larvae are internally hidden.

However, this shouldn't be done when females are laying eggs as it will create more suitable places for larvae to infect,[28] so painting the ends of trimmed branches can be used to discourage reinfection.

[19][11] The parasitic ichneumonid wasp Xanthocryptus novozealandicus is native to New Zealand and being researched as a potential biological control agent.

The female wasps parasitise wood-boring beetles, including lemon tree borer, by injecting an egg into the larvae which then grows and consumes the slowly dying grub.