Small tapaculo of high-elevation cloud forest in the eastern Andes of northern and central Peru. Male is uniformly gray; female is paler and browner with extensive buffy barring. Similar to several other tapaculos and best identified by range, habitat, and voice. Inhabits understory of wet, mossy forest. Typical song is very long; it starts with well-spaced chip notes and gradually morphs into bursts of rattling trills.