It is distributed throughout Transcaucasia, Greece up to Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

They live on dense soils, as opposed to the pine chafer (Polyphylla fullo), which live on sands.

They live in loamy soils, lays up to 40 eggs.

The larva is yellow, curved like an arc, 8 cm long; it overwinters in the soil several times, because it takes 3–5 years to grow one generation.

The larvae feed on plant roots, especially in young vines and fruit trees.