Though it is monophyletic, there are song variations in different parts of its range that suggest that there might be undefined subspecies.

The flanks and crissum (the area around the cloaca) are dark reddish brown with dusky bars.

The juvenile is similar to the female with the addition of a scaly appearance due to yellowish edges to feathers.

[5] The trilling tapaculo is found on the east slope of the Andes from southern Amazonas, Peru, southeastward to western Santa Cruz in Bolivia.

The eggs hatched seven days after discovery and the nestlings disappeared soon after; they were too young to have fledged so the authors concluded that the nest had been predated.