D. brevipes has not been reported as a forest pest but is a well known pest of agricultural crops throughout the tropics.  It is a major pest of pineapples, causing a condition known as pineapple wilt disease which has been known to reduce yields by 40%.  Damage to host plants is caused by a phytotoxic reaction to the injection of salivary fluids into host plant tissue and introduction of fungi and bacteria.  On pineapples, it is found primarily on root systems but sometimes colonies migrate to the foliage and fruit.  Other recorded hosts include cacao, oil palms, bananas, ground nuts, date palms, soy beans, mango, sugar cane and coffee (Frölich and Rodewald 1970).

C. equisetifolia, a fast growing tree native to Australia, has been planted in industrial forest plantations on sandy soils int he Coast Province by the Kenya Forest Department.  It has also been planted by local farmers in small woodlots as a cash crop.  On good sites, it is capable of producing poles in four years.  Products harvested from Casuarina plantations are being used as alternatives to mangrove species, a traditional but unsustainable sources of building materials.

The distribution and intensity of damage in C. equisetifolia plantations in Kenya is presently unknown.  Examination of an C. equisetifolia provenance trial at the Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) Coastal Forest Research Station in Gede indicated ca 20% tree mortality, however, no relation between provenance and occurrence of tree mortality has been established (Ciesla 1995).  The impact of this insect on a fast growing plantation species requires further investigation.