This spiny rat is recorded from Sumatra, southern Peninsular Malaysia, and Borneo. Its orange-buff back is mixed with black guard hairs, and its belly is cream-white. The 2017 account uses Maxomys tajuddinii; the current Mammal Diversity Database accepts Crunomys tajuddinii.
The back is orange-buff with intermixed black guard hairs. The creamy-white belly is sharply separated from the back, and the tail is dark above and white below.
The account records the species in swamp forest, lowland mixed dipterocarp forest, and kerangas forest. It is described as mostly nocturnal and terrestrial and as nesting in burrows.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.