This small rodent is restricted to the Mantiqueira Mountains of southeastern Brazil. Records come from humid high-elevation forest and shrubland.
Its long, soft dorsal fur is cinnamon brown grizzled with yellow, becoming brighter orange along the flanks. The tail is about as long as the head and body and is strongly bicolored.
In the Caparaó range it is recorded in humid montane forests and shrublands above 1,800 m. In the Itatiaia range, records are from forest near streams above 2,100 m, not from open mesas.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.