The Ashambu Laughingthrush is recorded in the southern Agasthyamalai Hills of India. Older studies describe the southern meridionale form with dark breast streaks and a white center to the belly, and report its territories in shola forest.
In the 2012 comparison, the southern meridionale form has dark breast streaks, a white center to the belly, greyer upperparts, and a shorter white supercilium than the fairbanki form.
A field study of the southern form recorded territories only in shola forest; it recorded none in tea plantations, grassland, or scrub.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.