Nelson’s small-eared shrew is known from cloud forest in the Los Tuxtlas mountains of south-eastern Mexico.
Its coat is uniformly blackish brown, and its tail is short, about 29% of its head-and-body length.
Its life in the wild is poorly known; the study focused mainly on specimens and distribution. Records are from 1,100 metres up to the mountain summit.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.