Descripción original como Alburnellus simus:
- Cope, Edward D & H.C. Yarrow. 1875. "Report upon the collections of fishes made in portions of Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, during the years 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874". Engineer Department, United States Army, Report upon the Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys west of the one hundredth Meridian. 5(6):635-703 (ffm00084)
Conservación: Notropis simus es evaluada por la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza en la lista roja de especies amenazadas como (EN) En peligro (1996). Reported extinct in 1964 by Burkhead (2012).