[1] In Xiphydria, the head has mandibles each with four teeth, 5-segmented maxillary palps, a clypeus with a medial tooth-like projection and antennae with about 20 segments.

[2] Female Xiphydria oviposit into diseased or dead wood, often branches that have fallen or are about to fall (widowmakers).

Eggs hatch into larvae that bore galleries into wood parallel to the grain.

At maturity, larvae become prepupae which switch direction so the gallery runs towards the outside of the branch (this is to reduce the amount of wood that needs to be chewed through later).

[2] They attack a range of different broadleaf trees: Acer (maple), Betula (birch), Ulmus (elm), Carya (hickory), Populus (cottonwood), Salix (willow), Alnus (alder), Platanus (sycamore, plane), Rhus (sumac), Fagus (beech), Fraxinus (ash), Tilia (basswood), Ostrya (hophornbeam), Crataegus (hawthorn), Carpinus (hornbeam), Prunus (cherry, plum), and Quercus (oak).