Enders's small-eared shrew is a small shrew recorded in the highlands of western Panama. The redescription describes a long tail and long, dark fur on its back.
In the adult male redescribed in the paper, the tail was 49–60% of head-and-body length. The dorsal fur was long and dark, with somewhat paler fur underneath.
The foreclaws of Enders’s small-eared shrew are long and narrow, and its forefeet are not conspicuously enlarged. Some other Cryptotis have much broader claws: differences between relatives are visible even in their small feet.
The 2002 redescription compared the small 1941 type, with slightly worn teeth, to a larger male collected in 1980 with more worn teeth. The former was considered subadult and the latter adult.
The two animals differed in body proportions as well as size. Comparing specimens at different stages of life extended the description to an adult animal, providing a fuller picture of the species.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The 1980 fieldwork documented forest clearance for a survey sightline on Cerro Bollo. The 2002 paper identified high-elevation deforestation as a serious threat to this shrew and other cloud-forest specialists.