This vole lives in the mountains of southwestern Sichuan, China. It has a brown back and grey-white underside. Collection records span 2,560–3,850 m, and breeding begins in late May, usually producing two young.
The described specimens had a brown back from neck to hips, covered by fine, long fur about 8–10 mm long. The hairs were black-grey at the base and yellow-brown at the tips; the underside was grey-white. Dorsal and ventral colours changed abruptly along the flanks. The tail was grey above and grey-white below, although some specimens had a uniform tail colour. There were about 18–20 whiskers on each side of the muzzle, 6–24 mm long. The holotype was an adult male weighing 24 g, with a head–body length of 91 mm and a 45 mm tail. Head–body length averaged 98 mm and tail length 47 mm in the described specimens. Among 37 scorable third upper molars, 56.8% had five inner and four outer angles.
In the observations summarized in the original description, collection localities span 2,560–3,850 m. The holotype was trapped at 3,020 m in a 30-year-old spruce and fir plantation on a site formerly covered by bamboo, with abundant humus and bryophytes. Moist, humus-rich native spruce or fir forest grows on the surrounding mountain ridges, with rhododendron and bamboo. Breeding begins in late May, usually with two young. About 44% of adult females examined at the end of May were pregnant, and 60% of adult males examined in May had testes descended into the scrotum.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.