Its closest sister species is the Sri Lankan long-tailed shrew, another Sri Lankan crocidurine shrew restricted to the high-elevation habitats of the Central Highlands.

C. hikmiya has a shorter tail than the Sri Lankan long-tailed shrew.

Most of the other characteristics that distinguish the two species are osteological natured .

[2] The specific epithet hikmiya is Sinhala for ‘shrew’, applied here as a substantive in apposition.

It is known only from two forest-edge sites in Sinharaja Forest Reserve, at Kudawa and Morningside.