The species is distinguished from other elmids by its 8–segmented antennae, its side–lying and silk like elytra, pimply abdominal sternum, and other minor genetic differences.

[1] They are known from only a handful of occurrences around a small warm spring along Bridger Creek, near Bozeman, Montana, on land owned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

[4] The primary threat to the species was the massive reduction of its habitat by human intervention, namely water collection infrastructure at the spring.

[4] The species is classified as N1, or critically imperiled, by NatureServe, but threats to its longevity have largely been eliminated, and drastic change in the size of its population in the next ten years is unlikely.

The species attaches itself to the underside of rocks or clings to watercress and feeds on algae on the gravel bottom of the spring using their mandibles.