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Adults may be found all summer long (depending on growth conditions) but activities generally peak from April to June. If conditions allow for three generations, first adult emergence is usually in March, followed by another in May, and a last one in June (Bright 1976).

Adults may be completely black, or black with a bit of a red margin around the edges, or reddish brown. Frons are flatten (more so in males) and the ventral abdominal stenites slope up gently to meet the elytra (LaBonte et. al. 2003). They can be around 1.8 to 2.4 mm long (Bright 1976). This species of Scolytus do not have a spine on its abdominal sternites (LaBonte et. al. 2003).

Larvae usually hatch within days and larvae will feed on the wood in the trunk of the tree. As they get older, the larvae will burrow into the wood for pupation where they later overwinter (Bright 1976). Larvae that pupate in the summer months however, may be found in the bark instead of in the wood. This species of bark beetles may overwinter at different stages of the life cycle (i.e. various larvae instar and pupa stage) (Bright 1976). There can be one to three generations produced within a single year, depending on developmental conditions (Bright 1976, Bentley et. al. 2006).