The white-cheeked squirrel lives in forests on the northern Sulawesi Peninsula and Lembeh Island. It is active by day, foraging in the canopy for soft fruits and insects.
Head-and-body length is 16.5–18.8 cm. The back is olive-brown and the underside ranges from reddish orange to ochre. The tail has black and buff bands, a black tip, and the ears have tufts. The pale nape patches are prominent in subspecies leucomus and faint or absent in occidentalis. Cheek and underside colors also vary among populations.
It is active by day and forages in the upper canopy, eating soft fruits and insects. It inhabits evergreen rain forest from coastal lowlands to montane areas.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.