The White-tufted Sunbeam lives in humid scrub in valleys of central and southern Peru. Its white breast feathers stand out; intermediate-plumaged birds are reported where it overlaps another sunbeam.
Adults are rufous and dusky with broad white breast feathers. The rump is mostly iridescent purple in both sexes; the tail is mostly rufous and slightly notched.
Peru Aves says the White-tufted and Shining Sunbeams seem to interbreed to some extent because intermediate-plumaged birds occur where their ranges overlap.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.