This small woodpecker inhabits drier forest and scrub in southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru. It is recorded along the Andean foothills up to 1,800 m.
It is about 9.5 cm long, with olive-brown upperparts, a barred breast and a streaked belly. Both sexes have white spots on a black crown; males have a golden forehead.
It is recorded in semideciduous forest in northwestern Peru and in drier woodland and scrub along the Andean foothills up to 1,800 m.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.