This species is native to the Andes Mountains in South America.

[3] The binomial name of the species commemorates the Irish natural scientist Joseph Barclay Pentland (1797–1873) by Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1837.

The IUCN list this species as Least Concern,[1] with an occurrence range of 590,000 km2 (230,000 sq mi).

Its upper parts are brown spotted with white, and its breast is blue-grey, and its belly is rufous.

The puna tinamou inhabits high-altitude grassland, and to a lesser extent, brushland[1] at altitude 4,000 to 4,700 m (13,100–15,400 ft) of subtropical and tropical regions.