The Southern Andean Rhipidomys is a forest-dwelling rodent known from northwestern Argentina to southern Bolivia. Its tail is longer than its head and body, and darker hairs fleck the back.
The back is yellowish gray to brown, flecked with dark guard hairs; the underside is white to pale cream. The tail is about 1.1–1.4 times the head-and-body length.
It is associated with Yungas forest and has been recorded in eastern Andean foothills, valleys, and forested plains. Records span about 360–2,000 m, including sites around 1,500–1,770 m in La Paz.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.