This shrew is known from cloud forest in Honduras. The original paper reports only the type specimen from Cerro Celaque National Park.
The type specimen is russet brown above and below, with the underside of the tail paler.
McCarthy’s Shrew lives in mountain forest in Honduras. It has an elongated tail and a small opening in the lower jaw connected to a canal.
The 2017 study that identified this species compared 256 specimens from 53 localities in Nuclear Central America. The Honduran specimen was a single adult female collected in January 1995. Previously identified as Salvin’s Shrew, it was re-examined through skull and tooth measurements.
An important clue was the balance between a row of small upper teeth and the width of the skull. The Honduran specimen had a relatively short toothrow compared with the Guatemalan and Mexican relatives examined. Combining several measurements, the authors described it as a distinct species. The female came from cloud forest at 2,560 metres in Celaque National Park.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A 2026 study of Honduran mammals highlighted this endemic shrew as a conservation concern. It reported that distribution records remain confined to cloud forest in Celaque National Park and that additional ecological information is unavailable. Protecting forest at the confirmed locality, checking its continued presence and studying distribution and population changes would strengthen conservation.