Pinto's Spinetail inhabits forest thickets in northeastern Brazil. A specimen comparison describes a dark gray belly, chestnut crown, and glaucous flanks, while the pale eyebrow line varies among specimens.
In a specimen study, the belly was dark gray and the flanks glaucous blue-gray; the crown was generally uniform chestnut. A pale yellowish line behind the eye was inconspicuous in many specimens, although some had a contrasting line.
BirdLife's account says it forages singly or in pairs near the ground in dense tangles at forest edges and in secondary growth, probing clusters of dead leaves and vegetation for small prey. It was also observed in secondary growth at a burned forest edge and in scrub mixed with coffee plantings.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.