This understory bird is recorded in the Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India. Records include Lohit, Roing, and Hunli, with a 2016 report farther north near Anini.
An individual observed near Alinye in 2016 had dark brown scaled upperparts, gray ear-coverts, a white chin, and a small chestnut throat patch. Dark brown streaks ran down the throat; the flanks were dark brown, and the lower underparts were heavily spotted black and white.
It has been found in dense understory of moist broadleaf evergreen forest and degraded secondary forest, mostly at 1,400–2,000 m. One Anini-area individual was in dense bamboo understory at 1,507 m.
In 2016, an individual was observed singing repeatedly from dense bamboo understory at Alinye, near Anini.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.