The general coloration is some shade of fawn, brown, gray, or black, and the fur is close and velvety. The tail is long, though rarely longer than the head and body. In most members of this genus the tail is covered with both long, white and short, bristly hairs. The foreclaws are not enlarged. Females in many, if not all, species have six mammae.
Scent glands are present but are better developed in males.
White-toothed shrews inhabit damp and dry forests, grassland, cultivated areas, and occasionally human settlements and buildings. They can dig their own burrows but often use those of other animals. A nest is constructed of grass or twigs. White-toothed shrews tunnel through loose humus and leaf mold and often are active under fallen trees and heaps of brushwood or stone. The diet consists of invertebrates and the bodies of freshly killed animals.