The Eastern Cordillera Small-eared Shrew is known from Colombia's Eastern Cordillera. After a long gap in records, a 2024 survey rediscovered more than 30 individuals at its type locality, La Selva.
It is small to medium-sized, with a moderately long tail.
The Eastern Cordillera Small-eared Shrew resembles the Colombian Small-eared Shrew in skull size, but has a narrower palate and upper dentition.
The 2003 description compared multiple skull and jaw measurements. In the four-species analysis, the two shrews largely overlapped along the size axis but separated along the width axis.
A second analysis deliberately omitted the molar-to-molar width that clearly distinguished them. Their samples still formed separate groups, adding evidence from combinations of other measurements for recognising the shrew as a distinct species.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A museum newsletter reporting the 2024 rediscovery identified small, isolated forest patches surrounded by heavily altered land as a conservation concern. Subcutaneous tapeworm infections were also observed in captured shrews. The team planned to search additional habitats, assess parasite prevalence across populations and develop conservation strategies with local environmental authorities.