This tit-spinetail is endemic to Peru. It forages in Polylepis woodland and nearby scrub, and occurs on the western Andes and in the Marañón and upper Huallaga valleys.
Adults have a rusty crown, a grey mantle and underparts with whitish streaks, and a very long, graduated grey tail ending in sharp points. The crown is less saturated and more darkly streaked in younger plumages and in subspecies cajabambae.
It forages in Polylepis woodland and associated scrub. In parts of its range it also uses Andean scrub.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.