This small tyrant is about 10 cm long. It has yellow-olive upperparts and a scaly-looking crest edged in rufous.
The upperparts are yellow-olive. Black crest feathers are edged rufous at the tips, giving a scaly look; the wing feathers have yellow edges, and the yellowish underparts are grey-streaked. The bill is black.
It forages in the understory of humid montane forest. Peru Aves distinguishes it from the similar Long-crested Pygmy Tyrant by its rufous-tipped crest and higher elevation range.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.