This squirrel is recorded in the Barisan Mountains of Sumatra. It uses forest layers from low bushes to the canopy and feeds on acorn-like nuts called “giseng” by local people.
HMW describes a speckled brown back and light-gray underside, lighter underparts, more yellowish feet, and longer fur than in the related Sundasciurus tenuis. Robinson and Kloss described the adult male type in 1916 as having longer fur and longer, narrower nasals than S. tenuis gunong; it measured 150 mm in head-and-body length and 115 mm in tail length.
The HMW species account places it in dense forest at about 488–2,530 m and reports use of forest layers from low bushes to the canopy. It feeds on acorn-like nuts that local people call “giseng.”
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.