Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.
In 17 records from GBIF, adults of this species have been collected during May (53%), June (29%), July (12%), and August (6%).
Most physical descriptions on Troutnut are direct or slightly edited quotes from the original scientific sources describing or updating the species, although there may be errors in copying them to this website. Such descriptions aren't always definitive, because species often turn out to be more variable than the original describers observed. In some cases, only a single specimen was described! However, they are useful starting points.
A species of the jejuna-undulata group, having no lateral spines near base of penes; tips of penes narrowed, distinctly outcurved.
Thoracic notum dull reddish black; pleura and sternum very similar. Legs sooty brown; fore tibia blackish at apex; all femora with a black streak longitudinally, which commences near base and is tapered at each end. Wings hyaline; membrane very faintly tinted with greyish, not noticeably darker in stigmatic area. Venation pitch-brown. About 3 basal costal cross veins and 19 beyond the bulla, many of which are anastomosed. Abdominal segments 2-5 “translucent burnt-umber brown” (Eaton); posterior margins of tergites darker; sternites slightly paler than tergites. Apical segments very similar in color, somewhat opaque. Forceps brown; tails reddish brown. Genitalia as in fig. 102.
This species is allied to Rhithrogena undulata and Rhithrogena impersonata in genitalic type. The lack of small apical spines and the outcurved tips of the penes separate this species from Rhithrogena impersonata; the penes are likewise distinctly narrowed at the tips, by which character it may be distinguished from R. undulata.