Its dark-brown to rufous upperparts have white spots, and its white underparts are barred. This owl lives in forests and wooded hills on New Ireland and New Hanover in Papua New Guinea.
The upperparts are dark brown or rufous, with white spots on the shoulder and wing feathers. The underparts are white with dark brown or rufous bars.
It is nocturnal and uses lowland forests and forest edges, wooded hills and lower mountains up to 1,000 m. Its diet includes invertebrates.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.