This pika is recorded in high mountain areas of western China. A specialist guide notes geographic and subspecific variation in summer coat color.
In the nominotypical subspecies, the summer back is described as tea-brown or greyish russet, with dark grey cheeks and a smoky yellow rostrum.
The IUCN species account records it in high-altitude talus slopes. The same account says that its ecology is poorly known.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.