This spiny rat is known from montane forest in the Mantiqueira Range of southeastern Brazil, at about 1,800 m. Known records are very limited.
Its fur is soft and grayish brown. The tail is about as long as head and body, with a long tuft at the tip.
The only known specimen was trapped about 2 m above ground on a liana linking two trees in mixed montane rainforest at about 1,800 m.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.