Acumen short, the spines or tubercles separating it from remainder of rostrum small or absent. Male gonopod with four short processes, three of which are strongly curved laterally from midline. Processes partly obscured by hairlike structures. Gonopod tips without a prominent shoulder. Hooks present on bases of second and third pairs of walking legs.
Adults typically are burgundy red with a black wedge-shaped pattern on the abdomen.
Tubercles on sides of the body and pincers are cream-colored. Occasionally adults are brownish rather than red. Specimens taken from turbid water are often pale colored, almost tan in coloration. Juveniles are pale gray with blackish spots laterally on the carapace and do not have a blackish wedge on the abdomen. On the ONF in both Arkansas and Oklahoma, this species preferred lentic backwater habitats, but occasionally could be found in burrows at the margins of pools.