The black-clawed brush-furred rat lives in the Afroalpine zone of the Ethiopian Highlands. Its speckled gray-brown back and black claws are distinctive.
The dorsal fur is speckled gray-brown, and the claws are black. The paper reports it as larger than other Ethiopian members of its genus.
It is specialized for Afroalpine habitats. In the Arsi Mountains it has been recorded sharing habitat and even burrows with a grass rat in the genus Arvicanthis.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.