Based upon a study of adults, larvae, and reared adults from throughout North and Central America, Tricorythodes minutus Traver, 1935 is shown to be a junior synonym of Tricorythodes explicatus (Eaton, 1892) (n. syn.). Previous characters postulated to separate the two species are shown to be variable and unreliable. This study has clearly revealed the presence of a single, widespread and morphologically variable species distributed throughout much of western, central, and northeastern North America and northern Central America.