This towhee lives in the highlands of southern Mexico. Accounts place it in moist montane areas and high-elevation scrub, with Oaxaca highlighted as an observation region.
The white throat named in its English name is a field mark. The Oaxaca field report also includes a photograph of the species.
It occurs in moist montane habitat and high-elevation shrubland. During a 2017 Oaxaca tour, it was found along a road below Teotitlán del Valle in the dry valley.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.